KABUL (SW): Afghanistan beat Ireland by 30 runs in a nail biting encounter in the first One Day International (ODI) at Greater Noida on Wednesday.
Asghar Stanikzai, the Afghan captain said after the match credit goes to Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran who helped prevent the Irish batsmen from reaching the target of 293 in the given 50 overs. “The old ball is good for reverse swing and Dawlat is an experienced bowler capable of reversing it. That's why the game opened”, he said.
William Porterfield, the Irish captain said the Afghanistan team never gave up in a match which they were close to lose. “We had a good partnership but we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We should have had a couple more partnerships to see it off”, he said.
At one point, Ireland seemed close to win it, but a disciplined performance with the ball and in the field by Afghanistan restricted them to 262 in the 47th over.
Bating first, Afghanistan scored 292 with the loss of 7 wickets in the given 50 overs. Rehmat Shah scored 78, Noor Ali 51 and Mohammad Shahzad 43. Chasing the target of 293, Ireland got off a promising start with a century partnership between PR Stirling and WTS Porterfield for the second wicket. The Irish middle order, however, failed. The whole team was out for 262 in 46.5 overs.
Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran took four wickets each. Porterfield was named as the man of the match for his impressive 119 in 98 balls. The Second ODI of the five-match series would be played on Friday March 17.
ENDS
