After suffering a series of defeats in the tour of Ireland, Afghanistan is back in the groove.
After losing the first two matches of the 5-match T20 series, Nabi Sena won 3 and 4 matches respectively and kept the hopes of the series alive. Afghanistan defeated Ireland by 27 runs in the fourth T20I held yesterday (August 15).
Afghanistan batted first in this match which was reduced to 11 overs due to rain. Najibullah Zadran (50 off 24 balls; 4 fours, 3 sixes) scored a brilliant half-century and Rashid Khan (31 not out from 10 balls; fours, 3 sixes) made 132 runs for the loss of 6 wickets with the help of a whirlwind innings.
Ireland, who came into the ring to achieve a huge target, were bowled out after scoring only 105 runs in 11 overs as the Afghan bowlers were enraged.
George Dockrell (41 not out from 27 balls; 4 fours, 2 sixes) tried unsuccessfully to win Ireland.. all other players failed. Openers Paul Stirling (20 off 9 balls; 3 fours, six) and Andrew Balbirnie (15 off 5 balls; 2 fours, six) made bright starts but Ireland could not capitalize.
Among the Afghan bowlers, Farid Ahmed Malik took 3 wickets, Rashid Khan and Naveen Ul Haq took 2 wickets each and Azmatullah Omarzai took one wicket.
The deciding fifth T20 of this series will be played on August 17.
