Shahid Afridi beats West Indies in 1st ODI

The title may sound odd. But, this is the reality. The first ODI between Pakistan and West Indies at Providence, Guyana, turned out to be Afridi vs West Indies, which was won by the former hands down. With his all-round performance, Afridi put the Indies on the mat.

Earlier, West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pakistan posted 224/9 in 50 overs. Misbah made 52, while Afridi scored 76 off 55 balls with 6 boundaries and 5 sixes. For West Indies, Jason Holder took four wickets, while Kemar Roach and Dwayne Bravo took two wickets each.

Chasing a victory target of 225, West Indies bowled out for a paltry 98 in 41 overs and lost the match by 126 runs. Shahid Afridi took 7/12 in 9 overs to bowl West Indies out of the game. Mohammad Irfan took two wickets. Samuels (25) and Sammy (21*) were the top contributors. Afridi was declared ‘Man of the Match’. It could be recalled that Afridi had retired from ODI out of anger, but later reversed his decision. It was his comeback match after a brief gap.