Windies completed clean sweep after winning the third and final ODI of the series against Afghanistan on Monday (11th November) at Lucknow. Opener Shai Hope‘s unbeaten century guided the team to the brilliant five-wicket victory. With this defeat, Afghanistan have now suffered 12 consecutive ODI defeats.
Windies already secured this ODI series ahead of this match as they were leading it by 2-0 before Monday night. Kieron Pollard-led Windies team came to play this ODI to complete the whitewash and they succeeded to achieve it.
Afghanistan batting once again faced trouble
This time the Caribbean side decided to field first after winning the toss. Once again, Afghanistan batsmen failed to provide a good start as they lost the wickets at regular intervals. Apart from the opener Hazratullah Zazai, all other top-order batsmen (till no.4) failed to cross the 10-run mark. Zazai scored 50 runs off 59 balls (7 fours and 2 sixes).
Middle-order batsman Najibullah Zadran was dismissed on 30 runs off 32 balls. Struggling on 118/5, Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi handled that situation efficiently. They built up a solid partnership as it stretched to 127 runs partnership for the sixth wicket.
While Afghan scored 86 runs off 85 balls (3 fours and 6 sixes), Nabi remained not out on 50 runs off 66 balls (3 fours and only six). Finally, Afghanistan managed to score 249/7 in 50 overs.
Windies pacers Keemo Paul (3/44) and Alzarri Joseph (2/59) picked up three and two wickets respectively.
Shai Hope scored 109 not out and safely led the team to the victory
In reply, Windies lost their first two wickets in just four runs. Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapped the opener Evin Lewis and the next batsman Shimron Hetmyer for lbw in the third over of that innings. However, the other opener Shai Hope handled that early pressure situation very well.
While the other batsmen were losing their wickets in regular intervals, the wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope guiding the team with the crucial 50+ partnerships. Debutant Brandon King (39), Nicholas Pooran (21) and skipper Kieron Pollard (32) all got starts but failed to capitalise those to the big knocks. However, Shai Hope took that responsibility and handled it perfectly.
For the third, fourth and fifth wicket, Hope and his changing partners put 64, 51 and 63 runs partnerships respectively.
With the help of Roston Chase, Shai Hope safely guided the team to the five-wicket victory as they reached the target in 48.4 overs. Chase-Hope had the unbroken 71 runs partnership for the sixth wicket. During that partnership, Hope completed his seventh ODI century in 133 balls.
While Roston Chase was not out on 42 runs off 32 balls (3 fours), Shai Hope was batting on 109 runs off 145 balls (8 fours and 3 sixes).
Apart from Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/49), all other Afghanistan bowlers failed to take more than one wicket.
Afghanistan vs Windies batting scenario
| Team | Afghanistan | Windies |
| Total | 249/7 (50 overs) | 253/5 (48.4 overs) |
| Dots | 179 | 150 |
| 1s | 79 | 104 |
| 2s | 15 | 13 |
| 3s | 0 | 0 |
| 4s | 17 | 18 |
| 6s | 10 | 7 |
| Extras | 12 (8 wides, 3 leg-byes, 1 bye) | 9 (4 wides, 4 byes, 1 leg-bye) |
Earlier in this series, Windies beat Afghanistan by seven wickets and 47 runs in the first and second ODIs respectively.
Since August 2014, it was the first time when Windies won an ODI series. In August 2014, the home team Windies whitewashed Bangladesh in the three-match ODI series.
Meanwhile, the latest defeat was the 12th consecutive ODI defeat for Afghanistan. This losing run is continuing from the beginning of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.