Wednesday May 22, 2019
Kabul (BNA) Afghanistan national cricket team has defeated Ireland national cricket team by 126 runs in 2nd One Day International (ODI) in Belfast to level the series.
Ireland won the toss and elected to field first.
According to BNA report, Afghanistan posted 305/7 in 50 overs on board as opening batsman Mohammad Shahzad scored his sixth century in ODIs. Shahzad was well supported by middle order batsmen Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi who scored 62 and 47 runs respectively. Shah also became the fourth Afghan player to cross the 2000-run mark in ODI Cricket. Hard-hitting batsman Najibullah Zadran also scored a brilliant knock of 60 runs off just 32 balls to propel his team over 300.
In response, Afghan skipper Gulbadin Naib's six wickets derailed the Irish innings as the hosts were all out for 179 runs in 41.2 overs and conceded the match by a huge margin of 126 runs to Afghanistan.
Opening batsman Paul Stirling was the pick of Irish batsman adding to his impressive record against Afghanistan by scoring a half-century while other batsmen could not manage more.
Team Afghanistan will travel to England tomorrow to formally start their ICC Cricket World Cup campaign.
A.B.Maseer
