Nabi, Rashid turn the tables on Ireland to level series for Afghanistan

It was like using a cheat code in EA Sports Cricket. They seemed to be applied on Ireland’s new-ball bowlers Mark Adair and Josh Little,  who wrecked Afghanistan despite their decision to bat first. With the score at 14 for 4 in the fourth over, the batters dismissed managed only 3, 5, 0 and 0. Then the user seemed to have pressed autoplay, and the computer helped Mohammad Nabi counterattack.

Nabi added 79 with opening batter Sediqullah Atal, who mostly kept playing and missing and mistiming. The partnership was ended when Atal was run out after struggling to 35 off 32 balls, even as Nabi went to smash 59 from 38. Rashid Khan then provided late fireworks by cracking 25 off 12 deliveries and taking Afghanistan to 152.

In reply, Ireland were 49 without loss after the final over of the powerplay started. But Mangeyalia Kharote broke that stand and struck again later while Rashid pocketed four wickets, as Afghanistan restricted Ireland to 142 and levelled the three-match series with one to play.

Almost every ball bowled by Little and Adair in the first two overs swung considerably, but they were accurate with line and length. However, a lack of luck meant only one Afghanistan wicket had fallen. Little got one to skid through to clean up Rahmanullah Gurbaz after Adair hit Atal’s off stump only for the bail to remain unmoved.

But Adair then struck back-to-back to end the third over. He had Ibrahim Zadran get a leading edge to mid-off before trapping Mohammad Ishaq in front. Replays indicated that the impact might have been outside off, as some luck seemed to even out. Adair also removed Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai in the death overs and finished with 3 for 27. Before that, Little had Azmatullah Omarzai caught behind for what was the batter’s second successive first-ball duck.

Nabi came in at No. 6, and punched his fourth ball for four to get off the mark. One over of the powerplay was still left, and Nabi pulled Little for six to keep going. But the boundaries kept coming even after the field spread. Nabi hacked Ben White, drove Gareth Delany and slashed Curtis Campher for four, leading Afghanistan’s rebuilding. They had pushed their way to 68 for 4 at the halfway stage.

But just after the drinks break, Nabi launched White for a six which went 90 degrees over the umpire’s head, while also calmly ticking over singles off the spinners. Atal was run out in the 14th over, but even that didn’t stop Nabi. He hit Campher for four in the same over, before smashing four and six off consecutive deliveries against White in the 15th. White had him caught two balls later, but by then, Nabi, who ended the day as Afghanistan’s leading run-scorer in T20Is, had laid the platform for Rashid.

Having demoted himself to No. 9, Rashid arrived with 21 balls left and the score at 119. He crashed Adair first ball for four to deep backward point, before attacking Barry McCarthy next over. Both the four and the six stood out in their own ways: the first was a swat wide of long-off after he made room and jumped down the pitch to a shortish ball, while the next was a no-look swipe over fine leg off a full toss, with the ball flying over the Sachin Tendulkar stand. Another four followed in the penultimate over, but more action from Rashid was due.