Windies vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score

A cricketing weekend beckons. Giving the Afghans the perfect opportunity to put the ghosts of today behind them and come out hunting - same place, same time - in a few hours from now. Given the stretching the Windies were subject to today, a few more runs at the top could really spice things up. All that for tomorrow as we take leave for now. On behalf of Abhinand Raghavendran and Sreenivas, this is Vineet Anantharaman bidding goodbye. Ta ta!!Sunil Narine, Man of the Match: It is good to come back and play for West Indies.

 We just needed to go and play well. I do not think we relaxed, it is just that they played better in the end. With the technology available I need to be on my toes. (On opening the batting) We need to keep it simple and take it from there.Brathwaite: Very professional in the first 15 overs or so. We could have finished it better and needed to be a little more clinical. But we'll take a win and look to better it in the next couple of games. We identified a couple of things at the start of the series. We grassed a couple of catches in the field and hope to improve on it.Stanikzai: Yes we are disappointed. We played some poor shots and were 40-45 runs short. We have learnt a lot from today and would hope to play better cricket tomorrow.

After some sloppy batting making heavy weather of the minimal chase, the Windies have knocked off the target that was always sub-par to start off with. In the process have got themselves up the ladder with a point against their name. They did try their best to make a meal out of it in the middle overs against the spinners but in the end have romped home rather comfortably to outclass the Afghanis - revenging Nagpur to an extent. Despite all the fuss surrounding the chase, it was the first innings where the deal was sealed. It tells a story when two batsmen in the tail have the highest scores for their side. Hang in there, the presentations coming up..

Usman Ghani and Naib are at the crease. Usman Ghani is on strike. Jerome Taylor will open the attackThe players are out in the middle.
 Taylor to start proceedings for WI. A slip in place. Here we go.Teams:
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Usman Ghani, Gulbadin Naib, Asghar Stanikzai(c), Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Shafiqullah Shafiq(w), Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Amir Hamza, Shapoor ZadranWest Indies (Playing XI): Evin Lewis, Chadwick Walton(w), Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Sunil Narine, Jerome Taylor, Samuel Badree, Kesrick WilliamsAfghanistan have won the toss and have opted to batAfghanistan possess two IPL recruits - Nabi and Rashid Khan - who would have had a brilliant exposure in the competitive league. The 18-year old befuddled even the best in the business. Having started their campaign on a winning note against a pretty strong WICB XI in the practice game, Stanikzai will be confident that his team can put up a good show. Lets hope we have a thriller. Toss and team updates coming up in a short while.18:30 Local Time, 22:30 GMT, 04:00 IST: The Champions Trophy is under way in England. Crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, here in St. Kitts, we are all in readiness to witness a T20I game. It's the World Champions West Indies hosting Afghanistan. Many would say that it's a bit weird that WI aren't part of the 8-team ICC tournament. But, the Caribbean side have their inconsistency to blame. Carlos Brathwaite and Co. will be vary of the fact that the Asian side are no pushovers. The only encounter between these two sides saw Afghanistan come on top during the WT20 in 2016.

Teams:

Afghanistan (From):
 Usman Ghani, Samiullah Shenwari, Asghar Stanikzai(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Noor Ali Zadran, Shafiqullah Shafiq(w), Fareed Ahmad, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Javed Ahmadi, Karim Janat, Amir Hamza, Shapoor Zadran
West Indies (From):
 Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Chadwick Walton(w), Jason Mohammed, Kieron Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite(c), Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Ronsford Beaton, Jerome Taylor, Kesrick Williams, Rovman Powell