Harry Tector and Benjamin White led Ireland to a 38-run triumph over Afghanistan in an exhilarating first T20I experience on Friday at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, denoting a huge triumph and taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Ireland players overshadowed Afghanistan star Rashid Khan as he got back with noteworthy figures of 3-19 from his four overs. All along, Ireland Cricket Team gave promising indications after they were put to bat by Rashid Khan.
Ireland made a quiet beginning to the procedures, with openers Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling scoring (22) and (25) separately. Harry Tector played a glorious inning, raising 56 runs unbeaten to lead the side to 149/6 in 20 overs.
Rashid Khan looked perfect in his presentation as he made his re-visitation of the proceedings after four months. In their quest for focus, Afghanistan’s innings got off to a surprising beginning, with their top-request batsmen like Rahmanullah Gurbaz (0), Sediqullah Atal (1) and Ibrahim Zadran (11) not having the option to give the group a strong beginning.
Ireland’s bowlers remained undaunted, constantly applying tension and getting urgent wickets at normal stretches to stem the progression of runs. Benjamin White stayed undaunted, getting four wickets.
Joshua Little and Barry McCarthy got three and two wickets separately, packaging Afghanistan for (111) in (18.4) overs. With the success, Ireland lead the series 1-0 as Afghanistan would search for a rebound in the subsequent game.
