Shai Hope hit a sparkling 108* to guide his side to a five-wicket victory over Afghanistan, giving West Indies their first ODI whitewash since beating Bangladesh in 2014.
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With an already unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, West Indies made two changes to their side. Jason Holder and Sheldon Cottrell dropped out with Brandon King making his ODI debut and Keemo Paul coming into the side. For Afghanistan, 17-year-old Ibrahim Zadran entered the fray for his ODI bow.
The young opener was immediately in the limelight as Windies skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to field first. Ibrahim was the first wicket to fall, trapped lbw by Alzarri Joseph. Rahmat Shah joined Hazratullah Zazai but couldn’t stick around for long, giving Paul his first wicket. Paul had his second wicket eight overs later when he bowled Ikram Ali Khil.
Zazai was going well, but upon reaching fifty he was the fourth wicket to fall, leaving Afghanistan in a spot of bother at 74/4.
The experienced duo of Asghar Afghan and Najibullah Zadran began rebuilding the Afghanistan innings, adding 44 for the fifth wicket, but just as the run-rate was increasing, Najibullah fell for 30. Nevertheless, Mohammad Nabi arrived to keep things ticking.
It wasn’t until the final five overs of the innings that the pair unleashed, with 44 runs coming from it, although Asghar was dismissed for 86 in the penultimate over. Nabi ended the innings unbeaten on 50*.
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