Afghanistan v Ireland, 2nd T20I, Greater Noida – Preview

Following a comfortable six-wicket win in the first game in Greater Noida, Afghanistan will look to seal the three-match Twenty20 International series against Ireland at the same venue in the second match on Friday (March 10).

Ireland opted to bat first in the series opener, and despite the early loss of Paul Stirling, it managed to get some momentum going. Stuart Thompson, opening the innings for the first time in the shortest format, stitched a fluent 82-run stand with William Porterfield before falling to Amir Hamza, the left-arm spinner, for a 35-ball 56.

Porterfield, the captain, was run out for a 30-ball 39, which according to him swerved the momentum in Afghanistan's favour. Eventually, helped by Gary Wilson's 27-ball 41 at No. 5, Ireland managed to score 165 for 5 in 20 overs though it looked set for a few more, and it was not nearly enough as Afghanistan chased the target down with two overs in hand.

“We had a good platform to set up a good total but the momentum shifted slightly with my run out,” said Porterfield after the game. “We fell a little bit short of potentially a very big score. We could have added another 15 and gotten up to the 180 we were looking for.”

The spinners caused Ireland most problems. Hamza, who removed both openers, finished with 2 for 23. Rashid Khan, the leg-spinner, took the crucial wicket of Kevin O'Brien and conceded just 24 runs in four overs. That, on a Greater Noida pitch expected not to change colour much, should worry Ireland.

Afghanistan gave a good account of its explosive batting depth chasing the seemingly tricky target with six wickets in hand. Mohammad Shahzad, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and Najeeb Tarakai set the chase off to a flying start, tonking 51 runs in five overs. Shahzad, typically the power-hitter, assumed a more sedate role and forged a 73-run stand with Samiullah Shenwari for the second wicket before being run out for a 41-ball 47. By then Afghanistan had scored 124 by the 14th over, making the rest of the job easy. Shenwari, in his knock of 56 from 36 balls, hit six boundaries and three sixes and a 13-ball 20-run cameo by Asghar Stanikzai, the captain, all but sealed the game for his side.

Ireland's bowlers were mostly unable to tie Afghanistan down. Porterfield said his side had failed to execute plans while also admitting Afghanistan's batters were better equipped to hit boundaries than his side's. “As well as we played I thought we just came up short with the ball. We didn’t quite execute things as well as we would have liked. You’ve got to give Afghanistan a lot of credit as to how they played,” he said. “They’re the kind of side that like to play their shots and they can potentially hit a lot more sixes than us. I think we can tie them down a lot better come the second game.”

Ireland, the No. 15 team in the ICC T20I rankings, will have to overhaul both its batting and bowling if it has to pull level with the No. 9 team, which has had the wood on them of late, most recently in the two contests at the Desert T20 Challenge in the UAE this January.

Teams (from)
Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Amir Hamza, Dawlat Zadran, Fareed Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Najeeb Tarakai, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shenwari

Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), George Dockrell, Josh Little, Jacob Mulder, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Greg Thompson, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson (wk), Craig Young.