Afghanistan vs West Indies, 1st T20I, Afghanistan v West Indies in UAE, 2026 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Afghanistan have won four games on the trot in T20Is. They whitewashed Zimbabwe 3-0 earlier and have now started off the series on a strong note. The conditions were suitable for them and they capitalised on it. West Indies, on the other hand, were found wanting. They are missing a few key players in this series and the inexperience especially in their batting department showed. With the T20 World Cup around the corner, they need to step things up. They have two more games before the mega event to sort things out. On that note, we bid you adieu! Join us for the second game of the series from the same venue day after tomorrow. Until next time, goodbye and cheers!

Rashid Khan: (On choosing to bat first) I feel like with the bowling unit we have, runs on the board give us the best opportunity. When teams see a total on the board, the batters tend to come after you from the beginning, and that was something we had in mind. Put good runs up, then let our spinners do what they do best by hitting the right areas consistently. We didn’t really think too much about batting first or second. I feel as long as we bring our best skills into the game, that’s what should decide the outcome. That was the mindset for everyone, just go out there, execute your skills, and see who wins. I feel very proud putting on this jersey and playing for Afghanistan. It’s a huge moment, and coming back to national duty, especially with a World Cup around the corner, makes it even more special. As a team, we’re fit, we’re looking forward to the challenge, and hopefully we’ll have a good World Cup. As for changes in the second game, that’s something the team management will look at. We’ll assess conditions, review this match, and make the best decision for the team going forward. We will try to go with our best combination keeping the conditions in mind in India. These three games are a good opportunity to test ourselves.

Brandon King: Obviously it’s disappointing to lose the game. I think we showed glimpses of some really good cricket, but in the end it just wasn’t good enough. (On their susceptibility against spin) When you look at this match, and with the World Cup coming up, especially playing in subcontinent conditions, we came up against some quality spin bowlers today. We’ve got a day off tomorrow, so that’s definitely something we’ll sit down and talk about ahead of the rest of the series. Afghanistan are a side with a number of very good spinners, so it’s an area we know we need to improve. We’ll review the game and look to be better in the next one. As for being back in the captain’s seat, I really enjoyed it, to be honest. I thought the bowlers didn’t do too badly overall. There were patches where we did some good things, but we just weren’t consistent enough to restrict them to a lower total.

Darwish Rasooli | Player of the Match: The plan was simple, that was the conversation with Ibrahim, to take it deep and play our shots later. I tried to play my natural game, that was the only thing in my mind, I backed myself and was able to play the big shots. It's a good start for us and I will try to keep my form going.

21:58 Local Time, 17:58 GMT, 23:28 IST: It has been a clinical all-round show from Afghanistan to seal the game. Brilliant knocks from Ibrahim Zadran and Darwish Rasooli propelled Afghanistan to a strong total on a stoppy surface. The Windies were sloppy in the field and they dropped a number of catches in the death overs which cost them as well. Chasing 182 was always going to be tricky on this kind of a surface. WI lost three wickets within the powerplay and were further pushed on the back foot. They lost a couple of more quick wickets and were reeling at 50/5. The debutant, Sampson, showed promise and played a few eye-catchy strokes but eventually crumbled under pressure. Forde and Motie also played cameos down the order but it was too late by then. Sharifi picked up a 3-fer while Mujeeb, Rashid and Noor took two wickets apiece. Afghanistan eventually defended the target with consummate ease. Stick around for the presentations...

Ziaur Rahman Sharifi to Khary Pierre, THATS OUT!! Lbw!!