Afghanistan overcome Ireland in 3rd ODI, take 2-0 series lead
What's the story
Afghanistan beat Ireland in the 3rd ODI of the five-match series on Monday. The match was held at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast. Ireland were bowled out for a paltry score of 206 in 46.3 overs. Allah Ghazanfar and Rashid Khan floored hosts Ireland with three-fers. In response, the Aghan side (207/7) got past Ireland's score to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Ireland
A look at Ireland's innings summary
Ireland lost Andrew Balbirnie early on (19/1) before Paul Stirling (23) and Cade Carmichael added 44 runs.
Afghanistan got back into the game and reduced the side to 128/8 in the 30th over.
A 76-run stand between Jai Moondra and Gavin Hoey for the 9th wicket helped Ireland get past the 200-run mark.
For Afghanistan, Ghazanfar managed 3/29 whereas Rashid picked 3/44.
Harry
Harry Tector becomes fastest Ireland batter with 2,000 ODI runs
Ireland's batting sensation Harry Tector surpassed 2,000 runs in ODI cricket. He reached the milestone with just his third run.
Having taken just 51 innings, Tector became the fastest batter to complete 2,000 ODI runs in Ireland colors.
He went past Stirling, who needed 61 innings to get the mark.
Tector was dismissed for just 14 off 27 balls versus Afghanistan in this match.
Ghazanfar
Ghazanfar races to 27 ODI wickets
Ghazanfar's nine overs resulted in just 29 runs and three wickets.
Playing his 19th ODI, the spinner raced to a total of 27 scalps at just 20.40.
His economy rate is just 4.47.
The mystery spinner already has two five-wicket hauls in his short ODI career.
However, he went wicket-less in each of his previous three ODIs against the Irish team.
Rashid
Rashid owns 64 ODI scalps versus Ireland
Rashid, who claimed 3/44 from 10 overs, has raced to 223 wickets from 122 ODIs (114 innings).
As per Cricinfo, his average of 19.47 is the best among bowlers with at least 150 scalps in the format (ER: 4.26).
He clocked six four-fers besides seven five-wicket hauls.
Against Ireland, Rashid has amassed 64 scalps from 28 ODIs at 15.89.
Chase
How did visitors Afghanistan fare in their chase?
Afghanistan started well with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran adding 53 runs.
After Zadran's dismissal, Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal put on 31 runs.
Atal and Rahmat Shah perished in quick succession before Hashmatullah Shahidi added 35 runs with Gurbaz.
Ireland hit back and had Afghanistan reeling at 176/6. However, Rashid stood tall with a score of 37* from 43 balls.
Information
Maiden four-fer for Hoey; Adair picks two wickets
Hoey stood tall for Ireland with figures worth 4/34 from 10 overs. In 4 ODIs, Hoey owns six wickets at 33.66. He picked his maiden four-fer. Adair bowled 10 overs and clocked 2/36. Adair now has 75 ODI wickets at 33.16.
Gurbaz
Gurbaz slams his 8th ODI fifty
Gurbaz's score of 71 came off 77 balls. He slammed two fours and 5 sixes.
With this effort, Gurbaz raced to 2,139 runs from 57 ODIs at 38.19. He slammed his 8th fifty (100s: 9).
In 7 matches versus Ireland, Gurbaz owns 455 runs at 65. He slammed his 2nd fifty (100s: 2).
In 24 away ODIs, Gurbaz has 800 runs at 34.78.
Do you know?
4,500 international runs from Gurbaz's blade
As per Cricinfo, Gurbaz surpassed 4,500 runs for Afghanistan across formats. Playing his 147th match, the star batter now owns 4,552 runs from 150 innings at 30.55. He clocked his 21st fifty (100s: 10).
Information
Shahidi also attains this feat
Shahidi scored 22 runs off 24 balls. With this effort, Shahidi went past 3,500 runs in international cricket. Playing his 116th match (135 innings), he owns 3,509 runs at 35.44 (100s: 3, 50s: 24). Notably, 2,665 of his runs have come in ODIs.
Information
Rashid gets past 1,450 runs in ODIs
Rashid hammered an unbeaten 37 off 43 balls after taking a three-fer earlier. He now owns 1,458 runs from 122 matches (94 innings) at 18.93.