AFG vs WI 2026, 1st T20I: Zadran, Rasooli, spinners lead Afghanistan to easy win

The T20 World Cup 2026 is less than three weeks away and the teams are preparing for it through bilateral series. Afghanistan and West Indies began theirs, a three-match series, in Dubai today. The Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan won the toss and decided to bat first.

The batting team had a terrible start to their innings as they suffered a run out off the first ball. Wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz found himself short while running to the non-striker's end as Gudakesh Motie's direct throw sealed the Afghan's fate. Left-hander Sediqullah Atal joined Ibrahim Zadran, but failed to fire as the 24-year-old was out for 2(4) courtesy a brilliant catch by captain Brandon King at first slip.

Afghanistan needed stable hands and they found them in Zadran and Darwish Rasooli. The duo quickly counterattacked and ended the powerplay at 51/2. The batters continued solidly in the middle overs although they did not turn out to be as productive as they would have liked. The partnership kept prospering as both the batters had now completed their respective half centuries.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan looked set for an onslaught in the death overs and the pair provided them. The duo took the team to the end of the innings though Rasooli was out off the last ball. The 26-year-old ended up scoring 84(59), his highest score in T20I cricket while Zadran too registered his best T20I score (87* off 56). Notably, the partnership, worth 162 runs, was the highest for the third wicket for Afghanistan in T20Is.

The Caribbean side were set a target of 182. Motie (0/18) and Seales (1/30) were the standout bowlers for them while others were quite expensive.

Afghanistan struck early as King (4 off 4) was clean bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the first over itself. Wicketkeeper-batter Johnson Charles joined Evin Lewis and a small partnership ensued between the two. The former was the major contributor to it as the latter was struggling to get going. Eventually, the left-hander was out caught for 4(11).

The situation got worse for the Men in Maroon in the next four overs as they lost three wickets for 10-odd runs. Charles (27 off 16), Shimron Hetmyer (3 off 7), and Amir Jangoo (3 off 9) succumbed to the spinners as the West Indies were in deep trouble at 50/5 in the ninth over.

With 124 runs needed off the last 10 overs, the batters had their task cut out. Quentin Sampson (30 off 24), Matthew Forde (25 off 21), and Gudakesh Motie (28 off 15) provided decent hands and formed a couple of 30+ run partnerships, but it was not enough to take their team even close to victory.

The Caribbeans finished at 143/9 as the Afghans won the match comfortably by 38 runs. For the latter, the spinners were their heroes as they took six out of the nine wickets to fall.