LUCKNOW: West Indies required a little over an hour to complete the formalities and register a nine-wicket win against 'hosts' Afghanistan in the one-off Test at Atal-Ekana Stadium.
SCORECARDResuming from their overnight score of 109/7, Afghanistan could add just 11 runs more to their total. Needing 31 runs for victory, West Indies completed the task in 6.2 overs losing the wicket of
Kraigg Brathwaite.
The result of the match was a foregone conclusion on Thursday itself, and West Indies skipper
Jason Holder struck the final few nails into the coffin on Friday morning by sending back the remaining three batsmen to scotch any chances of a fight back from the side who have made the venue their new 'home'.
Later, the Afghanistan captain
Rashid Khan said: "This is just a beginning in Test cricket for us (this was their fourth Test), and we did not have enough experience in the middle. Good experience for us, but we need to work hard against the big teams. If you don't score big runs against top teams, it does not matter how much you do, you will struggle."
"We did not have enough score in the first innings, that led them play freely and get the lead. Again, we did same mistakes in the second innings."
On the way forward, the leg-spinner also said: "We need to play the longer format more - Tests and ODIs. The more we play, we will get better. Now, if you play one Test a year, it takes away the momentum. It's tough for us to get more Tests against big teams, but we are trying to get as much as we can."
He also believes that there should be more first-class cricket in Afghanistan. "We need to work a lot on our first-class cricket. It is struggling there. The quality there is not as good as it should be like being a Test nation. Once we get the quality, the first-class structure in place, it will be easy for us to get used to the longer format quickly."
About his own bowling, the star leg-spinner said: "I have played only four Tests and have taken 24-25 wickets --which is good for me."
BRIEF SCORES: Afghanistan 187 & 120 (J Ahmadi 62; Holder 3/20, Cornwall 3/46, Chase 3/10) vs West Indies 277 & 33/1.