Kevin O’Brien starrer helps Ireland pull level

Kevin O'Brien's all-round effort — an inexpensive four-wicket haul and an unbeaten half-century — helped Ireland to a series-levelling three-wicket win in the fourth of five One-Day Internationals against Afghanistan in Greater Noida on Wednesday (March 22).

Having restricted Afghanistan to 220 — after it fought back from 83 for 7 — Ireland was struggling at 130 for 6. But a 66-run stand for the seventh wicket between O’Brien and Gary Wilson put it back on course. After Wilson's dismissal to Rashid Khan (2 for 50), O'Brien took his side home to safety, a flick to deep mid-wicket taking him to 72 off 60 balls and Ireland to 224 for 7 with 19 balls left in the chase.

Ireland was off to a fairly solid start with Ed Joyce and Paul Stirling putting together 48 runs for the first wicket. The visitor seemed well on its way to overhauling the total when Mohammad Nabi’s off-spin gave Afghanistan a breakthrough. Nabi sent back Stirling (28) and Gulbadin Naib got rid of Joyce (24). If that wasn’t enough, an error in picking the length cost William Porterfield, the skipper, as he was stumped attempting a heave of Nabi, becoming the second of his four wickets.

Andy Balbirnie offered some resistance on his way to scoring 22, but it all came down to the last recognised pair of O’Brien and Wilson to bail Ireland out after a sequence of wickets. It was tough in the face of Rashid and Rahmat Khan spinning Afghanistan into a seemingly advantageous position, but the batsmen bided time and rotated the strike to take the game away. O'Brien put the bad balls away and even smashed a couple of sixes to go with his eight fours. Wilson scored 41 in 67 balls with three hits to the fence.

Nabi was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 4 for 30 from nine overs.

Earlier, two half-century partnerships towards the end of the innings saved Afghanistan the blushes on a day when Ireland’s bowling unit came to the party.

After reducing Asghar Stanikzai’s men to 11 for 3 within the first five overs, Ireland continued to pick up wickets in a hurry with O’Brien and Jacob Mulder, the leg-spinner playing only his third ODI, leading the way. O’Brien finished with 4 for 26 from seven overs, while Mulder took 3 for 57. They were ably supported by Andy McBrine’s economical spell of 2 for 39 from ten overs.