Narine shines as West Indies trounce Afghanistan by 6 wickets
basseterre — Sunil Narine snared three wickets and mesmerised Afghanistan to set up a six-wicket win for the West Indies in the first fix- ture of a three-match T20 International series at Warner Park in St Kitts on Friday.
Having missed out on the meeting with the Afghans at last year’s World T20 due to issues with his bowling action, the off-spinner was at his unplayable best in taking three for 11 off his four-over allotment as the visitors were dismissed for 110 batting first.
Marlon Samuels then struck a fluent 35 to lead the home side’s romp to victory with almost four overs to spare to take a 1-0 lead ahead of the second match at the same venue on Saturday.
“Getting back into action in West Indies colours is always an enjoyable thing,” said Narine after receiving the “Man of the Match” award. “I am always trying different things with my bowling and tonight they came off pretty well.”
Afghanistan’s top order, including captain Asghar Stanikzai who had chosen to bat first, showed little responsibility at the crease and a succession of reckless shots saw them slipping to 58 for eight in the 14th over and in danger of falling below their previous lowest T20 International score of 72.
However Rashid Khan, with a T20 best of 33, and 21 from fellow spinner Amir Hamza gave the innings a measure of respectability as 52 runs were added by the last two wickets.
Khan and Hamza then hinted at what might have been possible with a more competitive total as the two specialist spinners proved more than a handful for Samuels and the other frontline West Indies batsmen.—