World Cup 2019: West Indies register consolation win over Afghanistan

Windies's Shai Hope celebrates his 50 yesterday. Pic/AFP

Leeds: It was a match between teams that had promised much but delivered little at the World Cup. West Indies were considered strong enough to challenge the big guns, while Afghanistan seemed capable of an upset or two. But both sides played well below their potential. And when they clashed at Headingley in their last match yesterday, Afghanistan again threatened for a while but could not go all the way. They lost by 23 runs to finish without a point, having lost all nine games.

However, this match will be remembered for two players, one a veteran and the other a rising star. It was Chris Gayle's final World Cup game, in which he could manage only eight runs, much to the disappointment of the spectators.

Gayle, however, rolled his arm over for six overs and got rid of young the Ikram Alikhil, to provide a much-needed breakthrough. Ikram, 18 years and 278 days old yesterday, became the youngest player to score 80-plus runs at a World Cup - he made 86. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar, who had 81 against Zimbabwe in Hamilton in the 1992 edition when he
18 years and 318 days old.

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