Ahmed Shah Pakteen (Afghanistan), Paul Reiffel (Australia), Bismillah Jan Shinwari (Afghanistan, TV)
Referee
David Boon (Australia)
Toss
Ireland elected to bowl
OVS
Bowler :
No summary available yet!
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Over 32
Runs: 1
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Over 33
Runs: 4
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Over 34
Runs: 2
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Over 35
Runs: 7
All Overs
Player of the Match
Mohammad Nabi
48(62)
5/17
Player of the Series
Lucky Winner
Analysis
Weather Update
Sharjah,United Arab Emirates
Updated: 12 Mar 23:30
21.8°CClear
22%
Clouds
0%
Rain %
6.7 kmph
Wind
Commentary
COMMENTARY NOT AVAILABLE
The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
With that the ODI series comes to fruition. Having lost the Test, Afghanistan have come back strongly and dominated the two matches that were played. (The second ODI was washed off by rain). Now, we would head to the T20I series which begins on 15th of March. Given that this is a T20 WC year, that series is going to be crucial for both teams. And neither are likely to take it for granted. We'd be on our toes bringing you the ball by ball coverage. But for now, it is a goodbye from Darpan Tikiya and Rajarshi Das. Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for more sports coverage.
Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan Captain): First of all happy about my team's performance. I'd like to congratulate my whole team. When I batted, wicket was not that easy. So I trusted my spinners and Nabi and Kharote did the job. It was a crucial partnership between me and Nabi. We wanted to take the game deep. I told Nabi "let's take it to 45th over." Pitch was a bit slow in comparison to the last game. The ball wasn't coming on very easily. But I think credit also goes to our spinners who bowled in the right areas today. Nabi is an amazing player. He is almost 40 years old but he contributes in fielding, bowling and batting. He is an inspiration for the youngsters.
PaulStirling (Ireland Captain): We were a lot better today than the 1st odi. We were happy with 236 at the mid innings break. It was better than conceding close to 300 like the first ODI. We were happy with today's bowling performance we should have chased down it. Can't put my finger on what went wrong we were in a good position. But we have to put that behind focus on T20 series coming up and the World Cup later this year. We decided to bowl with dew in our minds. But with the wind, there was no dew. That cost us today.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Player of the Series): First of all thanks to the almighty. It was great series for me and my team. But I am not happy with my performance today. I batted through the tough phase. I always try to do something better for my country. After losing Test match we were focused and prepared hard. And we would try and do our best in the upcoming T20 series too. I was fasting today, T20 will be played after Iftar. So looking forward to it. I would like to dedicate this Player of the Series award to Nangeyalia Kharote.
Mohammad Nabi (Player of the Match): Really happy to perform in those sort of conditions. I have played ODI cricket for 17-18 years and it is my first fifer. Stirling hit me for a six in my first over. So I put mid off back and tried to bowl in the wickets and he made a mistake. I didn't think too much about my fifty. Just happy to contribute.
Post-Match presentation is coming up in a few minutes. Stick around for the captains quotes and till then, guess who'd be the Player of the Series.
Afghanistan win by 117 runs, win the ODI series by 2-0.
Hashmatullah Shahidi 68 (103) | Mohammad Nabi 48 (62) & 5/17 Paul Stirling 50 (53) | Mark Adair 3/51
Ireland were cruising at one stage. They had lost Balbirnie early but Stirling and Campher had things under immaculate control. They had seen off the new ball and were just beginning to push the accelerator. Then came on Mohammad Nabi.
He bowled tight lines and lengths and it seemed as if the Irish batters couldn't distinguish between his off-break and the arm ball from the release. That comes as a bit of surprise as Nabi has played a lot of cricket against Ireland. They tried to counter him with some attacking shots which erred on the side of recklessness.
And from a comfortable position, Ireland went into a situation where it was almost impossible for them to even buy a run. They played 15 overs after the 20th over, only adding 26 runs and losing all the remaining 8 wickets.
Amidst all of those wickets, it is only Campher who can feel hard done by with the umpire's decision. Rest was all due to poor shot selection or brilliance from Nabi.
On the other hand, debutant Nangeyalia Kharote too returned brilliant figures of 9-4-30-4. This is particularly impressive given he was smashed for 10 runs off his first two balls in international cricket. In the end, it's a big victory for Afghanistan and Ireland's confidence would be severly dented going into the T20I series next.
Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan head coach: I thought we were a bit short with the runs, we were in a good position after the first 10 overs. But then we saw the wickets slow up a little bit. The way that Nabi bowled, he took the responsibility as a senior player. Nangal, the way he bowled on debut after a rough first over shows good steel and his ability to come back. We've got two new spinners whom you won't necessarily see in the white ball side. Necessary that we perform well in series like this, but it's also necessary to start blooding younger players for the future. Against Sri Lanka, we didn't play the kind of cricket we can, but with a developing side, you're always going to have ups and downs and as a side, we pride ourselves in white ball cricket and look to grow in red ball cricket. The series against SL was disappointing, then we came back in this series. Cricket's a great leveler, it's important that we maintain this momentum
It is an early finish at Sharjah. Ireland collapse! Afghanistan have won the ODI series by 2-0.
35
overs
119/10score
0
0
0
1
6
w
runs
Barry McCarthy*
8(18)
Theo van Woerkom
2(6)
Nangeyalia kharote
4/30
34.6 Nangeyalia Kharote to Barry McCarthy, BOWLS HIM! That is that! Kharote darts this one in on off stump, McCarthy camped on his back foot looking to cut. The ball stayed low, sneaked through from under the bat, and crashed onto the timber. Afghanistan triumph over the Irish rather emphatically eventually, and take the ODI series 2-0!
Barry McCarthy b Nangeyalia Kharote 8 (18b, 0x4, 1x6)
First boundary after the 23rd over.
34.5 Nangeyalia Kharote to Barry McCarthy, SIX! Well well! Barry McCarthy seems to have made his mind on going down while having a swing! Fired in on a full length on off, McCarthy got a good stride forward, pumped this one through its line, and proceeded to clear the ropes at long on!
34.4 Nangeyalia Kharote to Theo van Woerkom, fired in on a full length around middle, worked towards the mid wicket region for a single
34.3 Nangeyalia Kharote to Theo van Woerkom, beaten! Fired in on a length outside off, van Woerkom looked to play from the crease and was done in
34.2 Nangeyalia Kharote to Theo van Woerkom, full, darted in towards leg stump, turned down to the man at fine leg
34.1 Nangeyalia Kharote to Theo van Woerkom, full, just outside off, chipped towards the mid on region
Nabi finishes with his quota of 10 overs! It has been a night that he'd probably not forget in a long long time. Excellent figures for him.
34
overs
112/9score
0
0
1
W
0
1
runs
Theo van Woerkom*
1(2)
Barry McCarthy
2(16)
Mohammad Nabi
5/17
33.6 Mohammad Nabi to Theo van Woerkom, on a length around off, nudged off the back foot towards deep square for a single
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Barry McCarthy
*
Nangeyalia kharote
Video
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