Nagpur: Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai hailed his underdog side after their historic six-run victory over the powerful West Indies at the World Twenty20 match in Nagpur on Sunday. Afghanistan had failed to qualify for the semi-finals heading into Sunday’s match, but were determined to take home a consolation victory against the West Indies, who had already made the final four.
Stanikzai paid credit to his never-say-die charges especially batsman Najibullah Zadran, named man-of-the-match, after Afghanistan notched up their first ever Super 10 victory at a World T20. Stanikzai said his side, who had lost three straight group stage matches, had learnt “so much” at the T20 and would now head home and “work on our weaknesses”.
“We knew the conditions but the bowlers and fielders played very well. We know about our team’s strengths, we have experienced so much at this WT20.”
After being sent into bat, Stanikzai’s side posted a respectable 123/7, with Najibullah smashing an unbeaten 48 against the 2012 World T20 champions.
The West Indies, who had a perfect record heading into the match with three straight wins, warned that they were not going to let up against Afghanistan.
But their run chase got off to a shaky start, with opener Evin Lewis dismissed for a duck, and some excellent Afghanistan spin bowling led by 17-year-old Rashid Khan (2/26) meant the wickets kept falling.
With the West Indies needing 10 runs from the final over, Najibullah sprinted several metres along the boundary to take a spectacular, tumbling catch and claim Carlos Braithwaite for 13, just when he looked like bringing the West Indies home, as he had done against South Africa on Friday. Samuel Badree and an injured Andre Fletcher could only manage to push the total to 117 in the three deliveries.
