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Afghanistan upset table-toppers WI

Afghanistan kissed the World T20 goodbye by beating table-toppers West Indies by six runs in a low-scoring thriller. Asghar Stanikzai had shown his hand when he said they would use spin to restrict West Indies' big hitters on the eve of the match. Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan backed up their captain's confidence with figures of 2 for 26 each and kept West Indies to 117 in their chase of 124.

West Indies finished as the No. 1 team in Group 1 and will take on either India or Australia in the semi-final, but they will go to Mumbai with a sobering defeat. They became Afghanistan's second Full Member scalp in the tournament, after Zimbabwe, and the match was another strong reminder that cricket needed to be more inclusive.

West Indies required 40 runs from the last five overs, but Rashid had Denesh Ramdin stumped at the end of the 16th to tip the game off balance. Then it was Afghanistan who had to deal with a blow as fast bowler Hamid Hassan was pulled out of the attack. He was deemed to have bowled a second hip-high full toss by the square leg umpire, but Andre Russell, the batsman who had been struck by that ball, was rubbing his body below the waist.

 

Report and scorecard at ESPNcricinfo