POST MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow Us62 minutes is all that was required by West Indies to complete a resounding nine-wicket win over Afghanistan on the third day of their only Test in Lucknow.
Afghanistan resumed the game at 111 for 7 with little hopes of making a comeback. Skipper Jason Holder took the onus to wrap up Afghanistan innings by picking up the remaining three wickets early in the morning session. Bowling the second over of the day’s play, he began by picking a wicket off his first ball, dismissing his opposite number, Rashid Khan for the second time in the match.
Holder, then went onto pick the remaining two wickets in the innings folding Afghanistan for 120 and a lead of only 30 runs. He bowled in tandem with Rahkeem Cornwall who had a chance to notch up the best bowling figures by a West Indian spinner in Test cricket had he picked one wicket to go past Sonny Ramadhin’s figures of 11 for 152 against England in 1950. However, Holder ran through Afghanistan’s lower order to finish with three wickets in the innings and five in the match to claim his match bowling figures in a Test in Asia - five for 42.
A target of 31 was never going to challenge West Indies batsmen, even on a turning track. Kraigg Brathwaite, going through a poor form (an average of 16.1 before this innings in 2019), failed to stay unbeaten. Debutant Amir Hamza, who scalped a five-wicket haul in the first innings added to his wickets tally by inducing an outside edge of the right-hander’s bat that was pouched by Afsar Zazai.
John Campbell (19*) and Shai Hope (6*) then led West Indies to a victory, the biggest in their Test history while batting second in Asia. Cornwall received the man-of-the-match award for his outstanding bowling figures of 10 for 121.
