AFG vs IRE ODI 3rd ODI, Afghanistan and Ireland tour of UAE, 2021 - Commentary

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Afghanistan vs Ireland - Commentary

Afghanistan beat Ireland by 36 runs

player_of_the_match

Player of the match

Rashid Khan - AFG

Detailed Commentary

All

Wickets

4s

6s

AFG

IRE

Right! That's all from this ODI series. Afghanistan take the series and also bag vital points for World Super League. The Afghanistan players pose with the trophy and celebrate. We thank you for your company for this brilliant series. For now, it is goodbye from our end. Take care and cheers!

The winning skipper, Asghar Afghan, starts by saying that he is pleased with the performance in the series. Tells that the winning combination is important and he is happy with the series win. Wants to continue the good performance in the coming games as well.

Ireland skipper, Andy Balbirnie, starts by praising the performance of Stirling and tells they don't have words to describe how well he has played. Tells no one could give him support. Says that there is a lot of cricket coming up for them and they need to be better than this.

Paul Stirling is named Player of the series for his fantastic performance in the series. He is disappointed that his team could not collect points from the series. He adds that they were in good positions in the match, but couldn't capitalize and finish the game off. Also remembers Roy Torrens, who passed away recently and adds that a lot of people are already missing him so much.

Rashid Khan is named the Player of the Match for his contribution with both bat and ball. He says that he is happy to win the award almost after 15 games. Tells that he tried to put pressure by bowling dot balls. Says in the last two games, he bowled a bit wide and it was easier for them to score. Wanted to bowl wicket-to-wicket in this game. Adds that he has been working hard on his batting. Tells that he backs himself to score the runs. Is pleased with the result. Hopes to get a chance higher up the order with the bat. Dedicates the award to his late mom and dad.

Stay tuned for the presentation!

Earlier in the game, after struggling early on, decent hands from Afghan, Naib and Rashid took the team above the score of 250. Mujeeb and Naveen, the number 10 and 11 of the team, hit a few lusty blows to take the team's score to 266. Ireland were impressive with the ball. They were hit in the first 2 overs but they pulled back things nicely with Young taking 3 in the Powerplay. The spinners then came into the attack and kept things really tight. Simi took a 3-fer. However, they gave away a little too many in the final 10 with the last 3 Afghan batters making handy contributions. Eventually, those runs from the last few overs became the difference.

The Afghan bowlers were superb throughout the game! Despite the onslaught from Stirling from one end, they kept their cool and kept things nice and tight. Rashid, who wasn't at his best in the first two games with the ball, shone like a diamond in this game. He picked up 4 wickets while Mujeeb and Naib got 2 and 1 respectively. Pacer Naveen got the last wicket and closed things for his side.

Chasing the total of 267, Ireland started nicely with Stirling going bang, bang from the start. McCollum and Balbirnie failed to get going and departed at the other end but Stirling continued. He made useful stands with the likes of Tector, Campher and Tucker. He got to his 12th ODI ton in the process and smashed 6 sixes and 9 boundaries. However, once he was dismissed, they lost the plot. With the asking rate going upwards, the Ireland batters failed to get going and kept losing their wickets. And eventually, they fell short by quite a few runs.

Handshakes all around and smiles in the Afghanistan camp. A fine, fine performance from Afghanistan as they whitewash Ireland in the 3-game series. Stirling's ton kept them in the game but once he was removed, things went down the barrel for them and eventually, the Afghan spinners stiffled them in the run chase to register a comfortable victory.

230/10 (47.1)

118 (119)

24 (26)

4/29 (9)

2/43 (10)

Over 48

W

Andy McBrine*

16 (24)

Josh Little

0 (0)

Naveen-ul-Haq

1/45 (7.1)

IRE

230/10

McBrine has been given out LBW! He has gone for the review. Looked gonner to the naked eyes. Replays roll in. Ultra Edge detects nothing. Ball Tracker shows three reds.

Josh Little is the last man in for Ireland.

Over 47

W

1W

1

1

1

0

Craig Young*

0 (1)

Andy McBrine

16 (23)

Rashid Khan

4/29 (9)

IRE

230/9

Craig Young is the new man in.

Is that a run out? Oh yes! It is.

Rashid Khan back on. 8-0-25-3 from him so far. Can he finish with a 5-fer?

Over 46

1

2

1

1

2

0

Andy McBrine*

14 (20)

Simi Singh

17 (27)

Mohammad Nabi

1/52 (10)

IRE

226/7

Over 45

0

1

1

1

0

wd

1

Simi Singh*

16 (26)

Andy McBrine

8 (15)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

2/43 (10)

IRE

219/7

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