West Indies vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup 2016, Match 30 at Nagpur, Preview: West Indies look to make it 4 in a row

The ICC World T20 2016 is heading towards the business end now with two of the four semi-finalists being confirmed. While New Zealand became the first team to enter the final-four, West Indies became the second team by beating South Africa on Friday. They have just one league game to play now, against the spirited Afghanistan side. The match, which is inconsequential now, will still hold value for both the teams, as a win here will allow Afghanistan to leave the tournament on a high, while a West Indies win will keep team in good stead ahead of the knockout stage. FULL SCORECARD: West Indies vs Afghanistan, ICC World T20 2016, Match 30 at Nagpur

Along with New Zealand, West Indies have looked the team to beat in this tournament. They have remained unbeaten so far, having defeated all the big teams in their group. With a good blend of power-hitters, all-rounders and spinners, they have all the bases covered. Even the absence of the likes of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Sunil Narine and Lendl Simmons has not hurt the team, which has done well with available resources so far. Another good thing about this West Indian side is the low dependency on Chris Gayle. The flamboyant Jamaican did win the first game against England on his own, but his effort was not required in the next two wins, which suggests that the team has good supply of match winners.

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For Afghanistan, the match will be one last opportunity to shine on the big stage. They will not be playing a big tournament in the near future, which means the players like Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Nabi, Asghar Stanikzai and Rashid Khan have one last chance to impress the cricket world. The team did well in patches and had its moments in all three games. While they put up a decent total against Sri Lanka but failed to defend it, South Africa game went out of their reach during the death overs. They had England on the mat for most part of the game, but the expensive 19th over by Hamza Hotak proved to be the difference in the end. The match against West Indies will thus be the last chance to cross the finishing line.

Squads:

West Indies: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Sammy (c), Jason Holder, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Andre Fletcher, Samuel Badree, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse.

Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai (c), Dawlat Zadran, Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Shafiqullah Shafiq, Amir Hamza, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor Ali Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran, Mirwais Ashraf.

TIME: 15.00 IST | 09.30 GMT

(A self-confessed cricket freak, Chinmay Jawalekar is a senior writer with CricLife and CricketCountry. When not writing or following cricket, he loves to read, eat and sleep. He can be followed here @CricfreakTweets)