Mujeeb, Naib help Afghanistan to five-wicket win in first ODI

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Afghanistan emphatically extended Ireland's winless run, securing a five-wicket victory in Dehradun on Thursday, 28 February. Apart from Paul Stirling's excellent effort to score 89 – over half of his team's total – not much went Ireland's way.

Afghanistan's chase was off to a solid start with Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai putting on 43 for the opening wicket. Zazai's innings was ended on 25 when he was superbly caught at the long-on rope by Kevin O'Brien off Tim Murtagh. Shahzad had a slowish start but started accelerating as his innings progressed. But Shahzad fell for 43 when he tried to hit a good length ball from Boyd Rankin over mid-off – an audacious shot he'd pulled off earlier.

Rankin's extra bounce gave him something to work with, and in his next over he got rid of Rahmat Shah, who skied a pull-shot to deep mid-wicket, falling for 22. After that wicket, Afghanistan's scoring rate slowed down considerably with the Irish spinners applying the squeeze – Hashmatullah Shahidi and Gulbadin Naib scored just 12 runs from 42 deliveries before the former succumbed to pressure, nicking one to the keeper off Simi Singh for a 29-ball nine.

The asking rate was still only hovering around three, but Ireland continued keeping it tight. Singh, in particular was excellent, conceding only 19 from his 10 overs to help mount the pressure in the middle overs. Nevertheless, some lusty blows from the blade of Naib (46) took Afghanistan to what in the end was a comfortable victory.

Earlier, it didn't take long for Afghanistan's spinners to start making an impact. Mujeeb Ur Rahman struck in his very first over to dismiss Irish captain William Porterfield for one, when he inside-edged an attempted cut. Andy Balbirnie was put out of his misery when he played a missed a sweep shot off the same bowler to fall for a 20-ball two. James McCollum's debut innings ended first ball as he missed a googly. Mujeeb's excellence saw him finish the day with figures of 3/14 from ten overs as he proved a tricky customer with the ball.

It wasn't only the spinners that troubled Ireland – Dawlat Zadran and Naib, the seamers, shared five wickets between them. Naib's first victim was Kevin O'Brien, having him miscue a leg-cutter straight to mid-on to depart for 10. Simi Singh stuck around for 32 deliveries before being trapped in front by off-spinner Mohammad Nabi. Zadran then had Stuart Poynter trapped in front for seven.

At 69/6, Ireland looked in lot deeper trouble but they were saved some embarrassment through a 76-run partnership between Stirling and George Dockrell. Stirling went past his fifty during this partnership and played some excellent shots.

But once Dockrell was cleaned up by Rashid Khan, the procession of wickets resumed with Zadran preying on the lower-order batsmen. Stirling's 150-ball knock, featuring six fours and three sixes, came to an end when he was castled by Naib after shuffling too wide across his crease. Despite earning a score of respectability, it wasn't to be enough for Ireland.