When IPL side SRH congratulated Afghanistan on T20I series win over West Indies

On November 18, 2016, IPL champions Sunrisers Hyderabad took to Twitter to congratulate the Afghanistan national team on winning the T20I series against West Indies. The tour is being played at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow and the three-match T20I series just concluded with Afghanistan triumphing over the Windies by winning two out of the three matches. Afghani all-rounder Karim Janat was awarded the Player-of-the-Series.

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SRH congratulates Afghanistan

The Sunrisers tweeted a picture of the Afghanistan players posing with the tournament trophy that they won on Sunday, November 17. Among the people in the picture were two very important fixtures of the Sunrisers lineup - Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Both of them were retained by the team before the IPL 2020 Auctions. 

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On Sunday, West Indies and Afghanistan took to the field in Lucknow to play the series-decider. After Rashid Khan won the toss and chose to bat first, Afghanistan posted a decent score of 156-8. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz top-scored with 79 and a small cameo from Mohammad Nabi propelled Afghanistan's score to 156 in 20 overs. Windies' Sheldon Cottrell managed two wickets along with Kesrick Williams and Keemo Paul.

However, West Indies were off to a faltering start in their run chase as the top order failed miserably. Their chances looked bleak even as wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope tried to save the match. But when Hope perished for 52, the visitors' chances virtually were reduced to none. Afghani pacer Naveen-ul-Haq terrorised the Windies with three wickets and a very impressive economy of 6. 

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Sunrisers look strong before the auction

The Sunrisers Hyderabad line-up before the IPL 2020 Auction was recently revealed and the team managed to retain key figures like captain Kane Williamson, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Martin Guptill and Yusuf Pathan have been released by Hyderabad and Shakib al Hasan will not play in the IPL 2020 because of the ICC's 1-year-ban imposed on him. The Sunrisers will go into the IPL Auction 2020 with Rs. 17 crore.

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