Afghanistan will take on West Indies in Match 40 of the T20 World Cup 2024 at Gros Islet in St Lucia. The two teams will lock horns in the final Group C fixture on Monday night.
The winners of the 2016 T20 World Cup, West Indies have already booked a place in the Super Eight stage of the competition. They are unbeaten in the league thus far and have made the most of the home conditions on offer. Led by Rovman Powell, they would be looking to continue their winning run and enter round two on a high.
Afghanistan is also unbeaten in the ongoing campaign World Cup and has sealed their first-ever Super Eight spot in the competition’s history. Rashid Khan’s men have finally announced their arrival on the international scene by backing up a memorable 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup campaign with another strong showing in an ICC tournament.
What has happened so far?
West Indies have had little trouble in the T20 World Cup, defeating Papua New Guinea by five wickets in their first game before skittling out Uganda for just 39 in their next clash to register their biggest win in all T20Is. They faced New Zealand next, where a win would have assured them of a Super Eight berth.
Batting first in Trinidad, the home team posted 149-9 with Sherfane Rutherford hitting 68 in 39 balls with six sixes. A cameo from Andre Russell (14 in seven) helped the West Indies to a competitive total on a sluggish wicket. New Zealand could not get going and were reduced to 85-6 with Alzarri Joseph scalping four wickets. The Black Caps made 136-9, handing West Indies a 13-run win.
Afghanistan started their campaign with a massive 125-run against Uganda but it was their win against New Zealand that became the talking point. Led by opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 80 in 56 balls, Afghanistan made 159-6 in the first innings in Guyana.
Fazalhaq Farooqi got Afghanistan to a sensational start, dismissing Finn Allen on the first ball of the innings. Last year’s semi-finalists were eventually all out for 75 runs as Afghanistan scripted a memorable 84-run win.
A seven-wicket victory against PNG in their third game confirmed their Super Eight qualification. It also knocked New Zealand out of the competition.
Head to Head Record
Afghanistan and West Indies have met each other seven times in the shorter format, with little separating the two sides. The Afghans have won three games while West Indies have four in the head-to-head battle.
The two sides, however, have not played against each other since 2019, when Afghanistan won the three-match T20I series in Lucknow 2-1.
Key Players
Fazalhaq Farooqi is the leading wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup, with 12 scalps
Alzarri Joseph (West Indies): The right-arm quick picked up 4-19 in the last game against New Zealand, taking his tally up to eight wickets in three games. He got important breakthroughs, including getting the big wickets of Allen and Glenn Phillips after the duo had gotten off to steady starts.
He also picked up two wickets each against Uganda and PNG. Joseph averages 5.85 with the ball in this World Cup, the second-best among all bowlers with more than five wickets.
Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan): Fazalhaq Farooqi is the only bowler to pick up more than 10 wickets in this competition. He has 12 wickets in three games till now at a mind-boggling average of 3.50, even lower than his economy rate of 3.70.
Farooqi has been unplayable with the new ball, getting the ball to angle in or move away from the batters at will. In three games he has figures of 5-9, 4-17 and 3-16 to continue his good form this year. Farooqi has picked up 19 wickets in 11 games in 2024 at an average of 13.31.
Predicted XIs
West Indies: Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Roston Chase, Rovman Powell ©, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan ©, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Prediction
Both teams have a strong bowling attack with accurate and in-form pacers. Both Afghanistan and West Indies also have strong spin units, led by Rashid Khan and Akeal Hosein, respectively.
The batting also has a good mix of exuberance and experience but West Indies have a more dangerous lower-order. They are also the home side and will know the conditions better but Afghanistan have frequently played on similar conditions in Asia.
Afghanistan is the weaker side on paper but the slow conditions will bridge any massive advantage the West Indies should get in this game, getting their spinners into the game.