IRE vs AFG: Afghanistan won the five-match series 3-2 after beating Afghanistan by 7 wickets in the fifth and final T20 international on Thursday at Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast. Afghanistan batted first and managed to score 95 runs in 15 overs. Nabi and Co. didn’t have a great start to their innings as the top three batters got out on single-digit scores.
The likes of Zazai (10), Gurbaz (4), and Zadran (8) all got out with low scores. Ireland’s Adair ran through Afghanistan’s batting unit as he reduced Afghanistan to 26 for 3. He sent all three players back to the hut inside the powerplay to leave Afghanistan in complete disarray.
However, Usman Ghani counter-attacked and helped Afghanistan reach some sort of a score. Despite wickets falling at the other end, he kept scoring boundaries at regular intervals. Ghani took a liking at Simi Singh, whom he plundered for two sixes and two fours to take Afghanistan above the 50-run mark.
Joshua Little picked quick wickets in the form of Najibullah (10) and Nabi (0) in consecutive deliveries to leave Afghanistan at 66 for 5 in 11 overs. However, an unbeaten knock of 44 off 40 balls from Ghani meant Afghanistan had scored 95 for 5 in 15 overs.
Persistent rain meant the target was further revised to 56 needed in 7 overs. Paul Sterling started the chase on a wonderful note but couldn’t convert that into a big score. He scored 16 runs in 10 balls but did his bit in a low-scoring chase. By the time he got out, Ireland had already amassed 38 runs in 4.4 overs. Harry Tector (9 off 5) and George Dockrell’s (7 off 4) unbeaten knocks, thereafter, ensured Ireland chased down the score in 6.4 overs.
IRE vs AFG Brief Scores: Ireland 56 for 3 beat Afghanistan 95 for 5 (Ghani 44*, Adair 3-16) by seven wickets (DLS method)
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