Afghanistan have hit a slump in One Day Internationals, losing 12 in a row. They have a shot at redemption in the T20I leg of the tour, a format that is suitable for the mercurial talents in the Afghan ranks.
Afghanistan have won five of the seven T20Is they’ve played in 2019 and will be confident going into the series against the T20 reigning world champions, who have lost 17 of their last 20 matches in the format.
CPL Stars to shine:
Top-order batsman Brandon King and leggie Hayden Walsh Jr. will get their chance to prove their worth after their excellent exploits in the Caribbean Premier League. King, who topped the CPL run charts with 496 runs, is expected to open the batting alongside Evin Lewis on his T20I debut.
Nicholas Pooran’s ban is a blow for Kieron Pollard’s men and the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Lendl Simmons need to step up in his absence.
Walsh, who turned up for the USA national team as recently as August 2019, will be one of the main slower bowlers alongside economical left-arm spinner Khary Pierre. The leg-spinner picked up four wickets in the the three ODIs against Afghanistan.
Up against the best:
Rashid Khan
The Windies will face an opposition who in their ranks boast of the No.1 bowler and the top-ranked all-rounder in T20Is. Captain and ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan was a tad ineffective in the ODI series as he held himself back to bowl in the later stages of an innings and will be keen to redeem himself this time around. He has picked up 17 wickets in just seven games in 2019.
Hazratullah Zazai is Afghanistan’s power-hitter at the top of the order and has achieved the highest T20I score of the year when he smashed an unbeaten 162 against Ireland in February.
The pair of Zazai and Mohammad Nabi famously smashed seven consecutive sixes this year against Zimbabwe. Nabi bowls effective off-spin and has been a rock in the middle order with the bat.
The three-match series will be played in Lucknow, the same venue that hosted the ODI series.
