Belfast 18 August : Ireland sealed the five-match T20I series against Afghanistan with an exciting seven-wicket win, despite the rain in the final game at Stormont. After winning the toss, and deciding to bowl first Ireland was off to an impressive start due to an opening burst from the Player of the Match pacer Mark Adair.
After a calm first game from Josh Little, Hazratullah Zazai seemed to have gotten Afghanistan moving with two consecutive boundaries.The first of which was skewed to the point, and the other hit the covers with a fury.
Then, Adair came back to the attack, inviting his explosive opener to throw in the air high, with Simi Singh taking the ball at mid-off.After three balls, he claimed another, Rahmanullah Gulbaz poked outside and then slicing into the keeper.
Little sneaked through a unnoticed over until Adair hit again, this time striking back after a boundary from the first ball.The second time he was slashed through the middle by Ibrahim Zadran before bouncing out the No.3 cue-end and flying to short third man which is where Barry McCarthy claimed an excellent diving catch.
Afghanistan were left with a score of in a position of 26-3 after just four overs, and took their time rebuilding.
The ball only made it to the boundary once in the following five runs, and it came due to the result of an overthrow that reached the boundary.With nine overs left, Afghanistan were 42-3, scoring just over 4.5 runs for each over.
The tourists switched tack when Simi Singh took the bat, with Usman Ghani, previously declared ineligible at eight off 21, slamming 20 runs in the 10th over of the innings with two pairs of sixes and fours, giving Afghanistan an urgent boost.
Andrew Balbirnie turned to Little in pursuit of an opening and Little obliged.Two short balls eluded Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi in the space of two balls, with Lorcan Tucker completing the catches both times.
The second was a remarkable achievement, with the keeper running forward before taking a one-handed grab just inches away from the ground to take out the Afghanistan captain.
Again Afghanistan was rebuilt, adding 29 in the following four overs, laying the foundation for the final five overs.
But the rain started to fall at that point.rain started to fall, with the score of 95-5.
It left Ireland with 56 runs in seven overs to secure the series victory.Mujeeb Ur Rahman immediately made an impact when he caught Andrew Balbirnie lbw, and allowed just six runs in the third ball.
Rashid Khan was introduced and was enticed by Paul Stirling with a tossed-up delivery.The opener did not take the bait and did it successfully, smashing high over the long-on.
Then Lorcan Tucker shuffled and hit the ball of Mujeeb’s second over across the leg-side.
However, the demotion of Stirling caused Afghanistan back to the game.
He fell to Mujeeb and became the fourth player in history to hit the mark of 3000 T20I runs.
Harry Tector punched his first ball with a low full toss, over the cover for four to ease Irish nerves, but the removal of Tucker who was unable to time the slog sweep off Rashid and putting the match back in the balance.
A couple of ones and twos reduced the requirement to five from four.Ireland ultimately ended up winning the match and the series with a perfect timing George Dockrell pull shot found the fence, making the outcome an obvious conclusion.
Dockrell was awarded the title of Player of the Series for his unbeaten batting feats.He scored 141 runs in five innings and not being dismissed.
Brief Scores: Afghanistan 95-5 in 15 overs (Usman Ghani 44 not out; Mark Adair 3-16, Joshua Little 2-14) lost to Ireland 56-3 in 6.4 overs (Paul Stirling 16, Lorcan Tucker 14; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-17) by seven wickets (Target changed to 56 after 7 overs of rain)
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