Afghanistan 189 for five (Gurbaz 53, Najibullah 42, Little 2-29) beat Ireland 167 for 9 (Dockrell 58*, Naveen 3-38, Mujeeb 2-28) by 22 runs
Gurbaz steps up after sedate begin
A little bit of nip within the air made Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai – who returned to the aspect after an sickness – begin off relatively watchfully in opposition to the Ireland quicks. Ireland had additionally gone for an additional seamer of their assault, handing a debut to Graham Hume rather than offspinner Andy McBrine. Afghanistan completed the powerplay with 41 for no loss because the duo stored rotating the strike, following which Gurbaz took management of the scoring.
Zazai was nonetheless going at a sedate strike-fee however he broke the stress with a large six over lengthy-on off legspinner Gareth Delany within the thirteenth over. But simply when he had began displaying intent to attain, he grew to become Hand’s maiden worldwide wicket within the very subsequent over, as he performed a slower supply too quickly and edged the ball to a diving Paul Stirling at quick third. Zazai took 40 balls in his rating of 39.
The Zadrans punish the hosts
The Zadrans – Ibrahim and Najibullah – made positive they stored the momentum going regardless of the 2 fast wickets. The Ireland quicks had been bowling tougher lengths on the day, and Ibrahim, specifically, used that to his benefit – the quick-of-size supply round off from Hand was pulled in entrance of sq. for a boundary whereas a brief-ish one from Hume was hoicked by sq. leg for a six. Little caught to the shorter lengths whilst Ibrahim hit him for 2 consecutive fours within the 18th over.
But the ploy lastly labored on the fourth supply when he ended up ramping one straight into the wicketkeeper’s fingers. With captain Mohammad Nabi arriving on the crease, Afghanistan had been all set for an enormous end. But it was Najibullah who made the assertion. After plundering two sixes off Hume to complete off the nineteenth over, he cracked a few extra within the closing over to take Afghanistan’s complete to 189. An try and flick a full toss nice introduced an finish to his keep on the crease on the final ball, however by then Afghanistan already had a match-profitable complete on the board.
Ireland had been coming into this recreation on the again of two wins however that didn’t present of their batting. Fazalhaq Farooqi plucked out the skilled opening pair of Stirling and Balbirnie cheaply, following which Naveen-ul-Haq dented them additional by eradicating Harry Tector and Curtis Campher. At the tip of the powerplay, they had been 36 for 4, going at a run-fee of six once they truly wanted to go at 11 per over.
While Lorcan Tucker displayed some aggression, smashing a slower ball from Farooqi over midwicket after which taking up spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan for boundaries, many of the runs for Ireland in any other case got here from ones and twos. There was one other slide that adopted: Mujeeb eliminated Tucker and Mark Adair, whereas Nabi struck between these two dismissals to ship Gareth Delany again. Afghanistan had just about stamped their authority by then, with Ireland reeling at 85 for 7. Enter Dockrell and Hand.
Dockrell, Hand take Ireland shut
It might’ve been a legendary chase. But Ireland might come solely shut – which has been their story for many of the summer time. The duo did not appear to surrender. After Hand punished Nabi for 3 fours within the 14th over, Dockrell adopted with two fours and a six off Rashid within the fifteenth. They not solely focused the spinners but additionally went after the quick bowlers – even Naveen, who was the perfect bowler of the day.
After Dockrell smashed Naveen’s slower quick ball mid-off within the seventeenth over, Hand smoked a brief ball over additional cowl to complete off the over to convey the equation right down to 51 off 18 balls. Dockrell continued the carnage, hitting two fours off Rashid within the subsequent over as he introduced up a 28-ball fifty. Rashid went wicketless for the third recreation in a row – earlier than this sequence, he had by no means gone wicketless in two successive T20Is.
Hand hit one other six within the subsequent over earlier than Naveen lastly made him his third sufferer of the night. With 28 needing off the final over and regardless of Dockrell staying until the tip, the equation proved an excessive amount of for Ireland. Azmatullah Omarzai ended up making a gift of simply 5 runs off the over as Afghanistan clawed their approach again into the sequence.
Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo