08/03Result
1st T20I, Ireland tour of United Arab Emirates and India at Greater Noida, Mar 8 2017
Afghanistan won by 6 wkts (12b rem)
Player of the Match
Samiullah Shinwari
Samiullah ShinwariAfghanistan
08/03Result
1st T20I, Ireland tour of United Arab Emirates and India at Greater Noida, Mar 8 2017
Afghanistan won by 6 wkts (12b rem)
Player of the Match
Samiullah Shinwari
Samiullah ShinwariAfghanistan

END OF OVER:
18 | 9 Runs 1 Wkt | AFG: 171/4 | RR: 9.50

  • Shafiqullah6 (1b)
  • Asghar Afghan20 (13b)
  • Craig Young3-0-30-1
  • Stuart Thompson3-0-17-1

Clinical performance from Afghanistan. They played at their adopted home ground, and played like the home team, being cheered amply from onlookers and thoroughly outplaying the opposition. They go 1-0 up in the three-match series. Ireland have issues to sort out, especially with the ball. Their batting was pretty decent, although they did not get as many runs on the board as they would have liked. But it was still, by far, the better suit today. Can they bounce back from this big defeat or will Afghanistan seal the series on Friday? Join us then to find out. Cheers!

Asghar Stanikzai - On this kind of wicket, it does not matter if we bat first or bowl first. The outfield here is very fast. We always believed the target was chaseable. It is always important to start the series well, and I am happy that we were able to win.

William Porterfield - It was a case of runs not on the board. We did not bowl too well either. 180 is what we were trying, we could have got there comfortably given the start we had, but unfortunately, we could not do so.

Shenwari - The captain and coach told me to play my natural game, which I did and I am happy for having done it. We have played some cricket recently, so all the guys have been busy coming into this series.

Samiullah Shenwari is the Man of the Match for his half-century.

5.06pm That was a no-contest. Ireland have been thoroughly outplayed, with bat and ball. Ireland made a superb start as Afghanistan's bowlers sprayed it too full or too short and offered width on both lengths. Their spinners then came and stifled Ireland, but they were able to put up a decent score nonetheless. It was always going to be hard work to defend 165 given the firepower at the top that Afghanistan possess. But bowling remains a major worry for Ireland as they bowled poor lines and lengths and were ruthlessly punished by Afghanistan's batsmen who power-hit their way to take a 1-0 lead. Presentation time.

Ahmad Khalid Qu: "I am desperately waiting to see Afghanistan receive full membership. A wish that will come true very soon."

Mohib.H: "Well done Afghanistan, you truly deserve to take on the BIG boys now...."

Mohib.H: "Hope to see Afghanistan as the 12th headache for the BIG boys in the nearest future. "

17.6
6
Young to Shafiqullah, SIX, takes the aerial route to finish it off. Full and outside off, frees his arms and clears the long-on boundary. Shovels it from outside off and with the fielders inside the circle to prevent the single it was a chance he could liberally take. Makes clean contact and the ball sails a long way over the boundary
17.5
W
Young to Mohammad Nabi, OUT, oh, gone! Got to ask, was that really necessary? Full and outside off and Nabi drills it hard through midwicket. Cannot keep it along the ground and sends it straight into the hands of the midwicket fielder

Mohammad Nabi c Dockrell b Young 1 (6m 2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50.00

17.4
1
Young to Asghar Stanikzai, 1 run, fullish length outside off, eases it down to long-on for a single. Scores level
17.3
1
Young to Mohammad Nabi, 1 run, short of good length, swivels around and pulls it to deep square leg. Just two needed now
17.2
1
Young to Asghar Stanikzai, 1 run, short and no pace again. This time he anticipates well and hangs in the backfoot, waits for it before pulling but cannot beat the deep backward square leg fielder
17.1
0
Young to Asghar Stanikzai, no run, short of a length, no pace at all, tries to pull and goes through with the shot too early

Laiqkhan Rafeh: "Well played boys, a step closer to full membership, keep it up"

END OF OVER:
17 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | AFG: 162/3 (4 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 9.52, RRR: 1.33)

  • Asghar Afghan18 (10b)
  • Mohammad Nabi0 (0b)
  • Stuart Thompson3-0-17-1
  • Kevin O'Brien4-0-52-1
16.6
1
SR Thompson to Asghar Stanikzai, 1 run, good length outside off, drops it in front of covers off the front foot and they take a quick single
16.5
0
SR Thompson to Asghar Stanikzai, no run, full and outside off, tries to squeeze it out through the off side and cannot make contact

Mujeeb : "@Suga: In that case, Afghanistan should get full membership because currently, they are too good among the Associates.....The same goes for Ireland ..... !"

16.4
W
SR Thompson to Samiullah Shinwari, OUT, superb catch at long-on. They go upstairs to check if he has taken that fine, but does not seem like there's any problem. It was full and the batsman was using the inward angle and lofting it. It's the long part of the boundary there and the ball nearly carries but not over the fielder there. He moves to his right, takes it reverse-cupped and is arching back. The angle and momentum takes him over the ropes, so he flicks it in the air, crosses the boundary and steps back in to take it again. It's a pretty clean effort, no part of the foot was on the ropes

Samiullah Shinwari c Dockrell b SR Thompson 56 (65m 36b 6x4 3x6) SR: 155.55

Shan: "Just to get a perspective... the next best run getter from an associate team is Porterfield, who played almost the same number of matches but is almost 750 runs lesser than Shehzad... That's 77% more than the next best associate player..."

16.3
0
SR Thompson to Samiullah Shinwari, no run, fuller ball outside off, defended off the front foot into the off-side and the bowler runs to his left to cut it off
16.2
1
SR Thompson to Asghar Stanikzai, 1 run, comes down the track and ends up nearly yorking himself, the ball goes off the inside part of the blade to the square leg region
16.1
1lb
SR Thompson to Samiullah Shinwari, 1 leg bye, angled down leg, misses the flick and the ball goes off the pad to the left of the diving wicketkeeper and towards fine leg

Suga: "I think ICC should prevent Afghanistan from playing with associate nations, considering their consistent win over them."

END OF OVER:
16 | 27 Runs | AFG: 159/2 (7 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 9.93, RRR: 1.75)

  • Asghar Afghan16 (7b)
  • Samiullah Shinwari56 (33b)
  • Kevin O'Brien4-0-52-1
  • George Dockrell4-0-35-0
15.6
4
O'Brien to Asghar Stanikzai, FOUR, Kevin O'Brien's struggle in this over ends with another boundary. Too full and lofted straight down the ground. One-bounce over the straight boundary

Afghanistan 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st51Mohammad ShahzadNajeeb Tarakai
2nd73Samiullah ShinwariMohammad Shahzad
3rd37Samiullah ShinwariAsghar Stanikzai
4th4Mohammad NabiAsghar Stanikzai
5th6Asghar StanikzaiShafiqullah