Afghanistan vs West Indies: Battle for First Place

Windies and Afghanistan will both travel to the United Kingdom for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 – that was the primary objective, and that’s been successfully achieved.
But Sunday’s match offers the chance for one of the team’s to add some silverware to the celebrations.
A couple of weeks ago, Windies would perhaps have been favorites between the two. Now, it is not so straightforward.
Afghanistan’s shoddy form early in the tournament very nearly cost them their seat in the big party next year, but a turnaround in form, and fortunes, has led to a remarkable reversal.
To say the national team have had a tough journey through the Cricket World Cup Qualifier would be putting it mildly.
After three losses in their first three games, Afghanistan stood on the cusp of being eliminated from a tournament they had been favourites to progress from at the earliest-possible opportunity.
They needed to win all their remaining games, and for plenty of other results to go their way, in order to stand a chance of qualifying for the Cricket World Cup.
Remarkably, they entered their final game against Ireland with their fate in their hands and sealed their place in next year’s Cricket World Cup with a victory.
Afghanistan’s travails started before the tournament had even began when news emerged that their captain Asghar Stanikzai would miss the beginning of the tournament with appendicitis.
Stanikzai returned to his team for the second and final match of the Super Sixes.