MONITORING (SW) – Afghanistan became only the third country in the world after England and Pakistan to grab its maiden test victory in its second cricket match of this format.
Afghanistan's cricket team Monday recorded its maiden Test win as it beat Ireland by seven wickets in a one-off game here, nine months after making its debut in the traditional format.
Chasing 147 for victory, Afghanistan rode on a 139-run second-wicket partnership between Rahmat Shah and Ihsanullah Janat to secure a historic win months after their Test debut against India, the PTI reported. Both Shah and Ihsanullah struck half centuries, helping their team march to the victory target on the fourth morning of the match in a place that has been its 'home' for a while.
Shah scored a 122-ball 76, and Janat an unbeaten 129-ball 65 as Afghanistan notched up the target within a session.
Rashid Khan grabbed seven wickets for Afghanistan.
Mohammad Nabi now has the unique honor of featuring in all maiden matches for Afghanistan in all three – ODI, T20 and test – formats of the game.
Also playing their second Test, Ireland were on the backfoot from the opening day when they were bowled out for 172, even as Afghanistan secured a big first-innings lead after responding with 314.
"Happy. It's a historic day for Afghanistan, for our team and our people," said Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan. "We have been playing for a while, we have been playing first-class cricket, so we have that composure. The bowlers were very good, Rashid, Yamin. Now we're going to South Africa for World Cup preparation. We will try out best to play good cricket”, he was quoted by PTI.
Shah was named the Man of the Match for his twin fifties.
Afghanistan 314 (Rahmat 98, Asghar 67) and 149 for 3 (Rahmat 76, Ihsanullah 65 not out) beat Ireland 172 (Murtagh 54, Ahmadzai 3-41, Nabi 3-36) and 288 (Balbirnie 82, O'Brien 56, Rashid 5-82, Ahmadzai 3-52) by seven wickets.
ENDS
