T20 World Cup Top Moments: When Afghanistan shocked West Indies and Gayle joined their celebrations

There have been some big upsets in international cricket but when such upsets happen at an even bigger stage, they are hard to forget. More so for the team that tasted the defeat. In this case, the great West Indian T20 side was made to bite the dust by some spirited Afghans who beat them by 6 runs in a nail-biter. Not to forget, West Indies were defending champions when they entered this contest of the World T20 2016 played at Nagpur. That year, the Nagpur track was assisting the spinners, giving Afghanistan some sort of motivation, with three quality spinners — Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari and Mohammad Nabi — in their ranks.

But to topple the side as good as West Indies, a special effort was needed. After winning the toss, West Indian captain Daren Sammy opted to bowl first. Chasing against the spinners was always going to be tough for even the powerful Windies batters but Sammy trusted them to get better of them. [caption id=“attachment_10037411” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Afghanistan’s players celebrate after winning the World T20 match against West Indies at The Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on March 27, 2016. AFP[/caption] Windies were brilliant at the very start. The guile of Samuel Badree did its job, as he scalped three wickets for only 14 runs from his quota of four overs. He picked up the first wicket for Windies on only his first over, dismissing opener Usman Ghani for 4. Attacking batter Mohammad Shahzad played some shots before perishing to Badree. He danced down the track and Badree pitched it short, the Afghan carried on with his big shot but failed to connect and was held at mid off. Badree also removed opposition captain Asghar Afghan to put them on back foot. While wickets kept tumbling from one end, at the other end, Najibullah Zadran marched on. He struck an unbeaten 48 off 40 balls, that included 4 fours and a six to take Afghanistan to 123/7 at the end of alloted 20 0vers. Johnson Charles took Windies off to a flier. He smashed 17 off 8 balls in the first two overs. But at the other end, his partner Evin Lewis kept on struggling against spinners Amir Hamza and Nabi. Afghans had begun with spin as they knew that was their only way to win this game. Lewis hit one high up in the sky and it landed safely in Rashid’s hands. A few balls later, Charles was done in by a lazy shot selection and a good inswinger from Hamid Hassan. Rashid came into the attack and removed anchor Marlon Samuels. At this time, Afghanistan began to believe that they can actually pull this off as West Indians were struggling to read the turn. Dwayne Bravo (28) and Denesh Ramdin (18) steadied the ship for a while but Nabi was brought in to break the stand. From thereon, Windies continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, although they were also gathering runs at a healthy pace. Nabi was entrusted with the final over of the game with Windies requiring 10 off six. He started with two dots. The third one had to be a boundary for Windies; Nabi bowled it fuller and Carlos Brathwaite swung across hard towards deep mid-wicket where Najibullah took a stunning catch diving to his left, covering quite a few yards as well to reach the ball. Nabi conceded three runs off the final three balls of the game, sealing an unbelievable win for the Afghans in the Men’s World T20. They would soon know that they had not only beaten the 2012 champions but also the eventual winners of the 2016 edition as West Indies would go on to win the tournament, beating England in another crazy final. There was no end to the happiness and celebrations of Afghans as they continued to sing ‘Champions, Champions’ song released by Windies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and danced like him, which also pushed Gayle to join in. It turned out to be a great moment in cricket history. Afghanistan, torn by war back home, had made their fans happy by a great achievement on the cricket field. West Indies were, are a T20 force and beating them was a memorable moment for the whole country and just to add a touch of niceness, the world’s most successful T20 batter, the self-proclaimed Universe Boss, who instills fear with his batting in bowlers, joined Afghanistan in their celebrations.

The whole of Afghanistan squad took a selfie with him in the end and that was a picture to keep for life. To read more standout moments from past T20 World Cups,  click here