Ireland vs Afghanistan 2018, 1st ODI: All-Round Show Helps Visitors Take Early Lead

Afghanistan registered a well-earned victory by 28 runs in the opening ODI against Ireland to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

It was a low scoring affair, and Afghanistan eventually prevailed, courtesy of some superb piece of bowling by the bowlers. Earlier in the day, the visitors registered a relatively below par score of 227 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Hashmatullah Shahidi also scored a useful 54 off 82 deliveries.

It was Ireland skipper, William Porterfield who won the toss and asked visitors to bat. They lost Hazratullah Zazai and Ihsanullah Janat in quick time, as Afghanistan got reduced to 25/2. Gulbadin Naib and Rahmat Shah shared an impressive partnership to get themselves back on track. The Irish bowlers kept chipping away with the wickets in crucial junctures of the game.

Tim Murtagh was quite superb with the ball in hand, bagging four wickets. Boyd Rankin also chipped in with three wickets for just 44 runs.

Ireland batted in a mediocre fashion

Ireland also began poorly. They lost openers William Porterfield and Paul Stirling with just 35 runs on the board. Naib and Alam went onto pick the first couple of wickets. Andrew Balbirnie was the top scorer for the Irish with a fluent half-century, as his innings included six fours. Afghanistan kept bagging the wickets on a consistent basis.

Aftab Alam was the pick of the Afghanistan fast bowlers. He bowled an impressive spell and chipped in with a couple of important wickets. Gary Wilson and Kevin O’Brien shared a good partnership. Wilson, in particular, looked in good touch and went onto score 38 off 50 deliveries. His innings included a solitary six.

Spinners, Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi, were as impressive as always. Rashid Khan showed yet again why he is one of the very best in limited-overs cricket.

Both the spinners bagged a couple of wickets each. The combined bowling effort eventually helped Afghanistan restrict Ireland to 198. In fact, they were bowled out for 198 runs in the penultimate over.

Brief Scores

Afghanistan 227/9 in 50 overs (Gulbadin Naib 64, Hashmatullah Shahidi 54, Tim Murtagh 4/31, Boyd Rankin 3/44)

Ireland 198 all-out in 48.3 overs (Andrew Balbirnie 55, Aftab Alam 2/34, Rashid Khan 2/41)

Afghanistan won by 29 runs.