West Indies captain Kieron Pollard was a relieved man after his side hammered Afghanistan to end their longest losing streak in T20 internationals.

Opener Evin Lewis hit 68 off 41 balls and Pollard made an unbeaten 32 of 21 balls and took two key wickets to claim man of the match honours as West Indies won the game by 30 runs.

West Indies, who had lost their seven previous T20s this year, made 164-5 from their 20 overs and then restricted Afghanistan to 134-9.

"It's always good to contribute but it's always better to contribute in the winning cause," Pollard said after the game late Thursday.

Read | Hope ton powers West Indies to ODI sweep over Afghanistan

While paying tribute to Lewis, Pollard also said the Caribbean bowlers had performed "magnificently" despite being a bowler short. Pollard himself took Asghar Afghan and Najibullah Zadran as they were starting to build threatening innings. 

"We have couple of guys who can bowl here and there. The guys rose up to the occasion," said Pollard. "We'll have to go back and improve on certain areas."

Afghanistan won the toss and skipper Rashid Khan opted to make West Indies bat but his gamble did not pay off. "We didn't bowl well in the first 10 overs," he admitted.

Afghanistan have now lost three straight T20s after 12 straight victories. However, Khan said the side were testing youngsters to be ready for future tournaments.

"We have a five-year plan. Hopefully we'll have the perfect 15 for the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup." Both tournaments are in 2020.

The two sides play the second of their three-match T20 series in Lucknow on Saturday. Afghanistan play all their home games in India because of security concerns.

Featured image courtesy: AFP/ Rohit Umrao

West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran has been banned for four T20 internationals for tampering with the ball in a one-day match against Afghanistan, cricket's world body announced Wednesday.

Pooran admitted to "changing the condition of the ball" after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the white ball with his thumbnail in Lucknow on Monday.

"He will now miss the next four T20I games for the West Indies and will have five demerit points added to his record," said an International Cricket Council statement.

Pooran said that he wanted to "issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow".

"I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty," he added.

"I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser."

The 24-year-old will be forced to sit out the team's three T20 matches against Afghanistan and the first game of their subsequent three-match series against India.

Pooran, who made 21 in a successful West Indies chase of 250 that led to a sweep of the three-match ODI series, is a left-handed wicketkeeper batsman.

He was the man of the match in the second ODI for smashing 67 off 50 balls.

Born in Trinidad, Pooran has played 16 ODI matches since his 50-over debut earlier this year. He has represented West Indies in 14 T20 games.

Featured image courtesy: AFP/ Randy Brooks

Opening batsman Shai Hope struck an unbeaten century as West Indies outplayed Afghanistan by five wickets in the third one-day international on Monday to complete a 3-0 series rout.

Hope made 109 and built crucial partnerships including an unbeaten 71-run stand with Roston Chase, 42 not out, to anchor West Indies' chase of 250 with eight balls to spare in Lucknow.

The wicketkeeper-batsman completed his seventh ODI hundred as West Indies, under new limited-overs captain Kieron Pollard, recorded their first ODI whitewash since 2014.

"We came here with a mission and specific roles for players, and all the players deserve credit," said Pollard.

"Winning is a habit, and anything that we want to do as a team is a process, and it's something we had to improve in a period of time.

"This was an opportunity for us to show we have that kind of venom inside us. We knew we had to rally as a team, and we proved we can bat 50 overs, and once we do that, we can win games."

Paceman Keemo Paul played a key role in the win, returning figures of 3-44 in Afghanistan's 249 for seven.

Afghanistan's teenage spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman took two wickets to reduce West Indies to four for two but Hope stood firm to keep the chase on track.

Hope, who starred in the opening win with an unbeaten 77, remained the top-scorer in the series with 229 runs.

Man of the match Hope got support from debutant Brandon King, who made 39, and Pollard, who hit 32.

Chase was named man of the series for his 145 runs including a highest of 94 in the three matches and six wickets with his off-spin.

Afghan-Nabi stand

Afghanistan, led by Rashid Khan, were outplayed in all three matches in their newly adopted home in Lucknow. India has been the home of the war-torn nation's cricket team since 2015.

A 127-run partnership between Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi gave Afghanistan a fighting total from a precarious 118-5 after being invited to bat first.

Afghan made 86 off 85 balls and Nabi remained unbeaten on 50 to thwart a persistent West Indies bowling.

Opener Hazratullah Zazai hit an attacking 50 but the rest of the top-order fell flat.

Afghan, who hit three fours and six sixes, then took stock to re-build and Nabi joined forces with the batting pair taking the attack to the opposition.

Nabi, who hit three fours and a six in his 66-ball stay, raised his 15th ODI fifty on the penultimate ball of the innings as Afghanistan managed 54 runs from the last five overs.

"We were just trying to be better in each and every game. There were more positives from us in today's game," said Rashid.

"The kind of finishing we got from Asghar and Nabi gave us a chance to win the game. We should have defended this total, but Hope played without giving us any chances."

He added, "We have to focus on doing the right things, and making the right decisions at the right time. T20 is all about enjoyment, and we have to keep enjoying, whether in batting, bowling or fielding. The results will take care of themselves."

The two teams will now play three Twenty20 internationals om Lucknow starting November 14.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Rohit Umrao

West Indies beat Afghanistan by 47 runs on Saturday to claim their first one-day series win in more than five years as their bowlers took control amid an invasion of moths.

Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase and Hayden Walsh each took three wickets as Kieron Pollard's side wrapped up the three-match series with a game to spare. Afghanistan have now lost 11 one-day internationals in a row.

Wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran hit 67 off 50 balls to put backbone in the West Indies innings.

Openers Shai Hope (43) and Evin Lewis (54) put on 98 for the first wicket but the batsmen then lost their way until Pooran's man-of-the-match fireworks that included three sixes and seven fours.

Pooran admitted it had been a "critical situation" when he came in. He helped take the score from 156-4 to 242-8.

The Afghanistan innings was overshadowed by tens of thousands of black moths and flies that took over the floodlit Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.

Dark clouds of insects rose up every time the ball hit a boundary rope and several West Indies fielders wore masks. The moths caused problems for bowlers and batsmen, and Pollard twice spoke to the umpires about the nuisance.

Image: AFP / Rohit Umrao

"I've never played with so many flies around," said the West Indies captain after the game. "Health is very important, so something's got to be done about that." The third and final one-day game is on Monday but there are T20 games and a Test to follow -- all in the same stadium.

Afghanistan lost Javed Ahmed in the opening over before Hazratullah Zazai (23) and Rahmat Shah (33) steadied in the innings. But easy wickets then fell before Najibullah Zadran (56) and Mohammad Nabi (32) put on 66 for the sixth wicket, hitting the insects for six.

No one else could keep up the pace after their departure. Captain Rashid Khan scored only two as the eighth man in.

"We recovered well, but couldn't finish it off," said Rashid. "The senior players did well, but we lost wickets in clusters." Walsh took three of the last four wickets to fall.

Pollard said it had been a great relief to finally win a one-day series for the first time since August 2014 when Bangladesh were the victims.

"I want to go back inside and celebrate with the guys. Winning is a habit and we need to enjoy ourselves but we will be playing to win again the day after tomorrow."

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Rohit Umrao

Shai Hope and Roston Chase struck half-centuries to power West Indies to a seven-wicket win over Afghanistan in the first one-day international in smog-hit Lucknow on Wednesday.

Chase and Hope put on a key 163-run stand for the third wicket as West Indies reached their target of 195 in 46.3 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Chase, who was promoted to bat at number four, made 94 before he was bowled by teenage spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman while opener Hope compiled an unbeaten 77.

Chase also took two wickets with his off-spin to help dismiss Afghanistan for 194 in their newly adopted home in Lucknow. India has been the home of the war-torn nation's cricket team since 2015.

The air in Lucknow was classed as "very unhealthy" for the match, as north India has been in the grip of severe seasonal pollution.

It was cricket as usual for the players though with Hope and Chase anchoring the chase after Evin Lewis was trapped lbw for seven and Shimron Hetmyer removed for three.

"Losing early wickets and not batting 50 overs is something that has been haunting us for a long time," said West Indies' new limited-overs skipper Kieron Pollard.

"Two guys showed the way - Hope and Chase. Both of them are class batsmen, kudos to them for batting well and getting us victory."

Freak run-out

The right-handed Chase missed out on what would have been his maiden ODI century. Nicholas Pooran hit the winning boundary.

Afghanistan batsmen Rahmat Shah and Ikram Alikhil hit half-centuries in a 111-run partnership before the rest of the batting crumbled in 45.2 overs.

Afghanistan lost openers Hazratullah Zazai and Javed Ahmadi with just 15 runs on the board before Shah (61) and Alikhil (58) steadied the innings.

Alikhil was run out in a freak manner after he left his crease to congratulate his partner who had completed his fifty with a single, but the ball was in wicketkeeper Hope's gloves and still in play.

Hope clipped off the bails and appealed and umpire Paul Reiffel referred it to the third umpire who gave it out much to the shock of the batsman as he believed the ball was dead.

Three balls later, Chase got Najibullah Zadran for nought.

Mohammed Nabi and Gulbadin Naib also fell cheaply and Afghanistan's last four wickets went for just four runs. 

Asghar Afghan made 35 before being run out by a direct hit from Jason Holder.

Chase returned figures of 2-31 while debutant Romario Shepherd and fellow quick Holder also claimed two wickets each.

"Looked like a 240-250 wicket. Had we bowled or fielded well, we could've defended it," Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said.

"Ikram and Rahmat gave us a few opportunities, but we didn't capitalise. Credit to them. Every match is a lesson and we have to learn from it. We'll take the positives from here, looking to improve."

The second ODI is on Saturday.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Rohit Umrao