Rashid Khan and Afghanistan in scintillating form as World Cup approaches
Only months away the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 gets closer and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan just gets better. The wonder-spinner’s latest triumph, four wickets in 4 balls with final figures of 5 for 27 as Afghanistan won their final Twenty20 against Ireland to secure a 3-0 series win in Dehradun, India. Further supporting evidence, as to why he is top of the ICC’s T20 bowler rankings.
Rashid Khan’s youthful rise to excellence has been nothing short of meteoric. He became the youngest player to captain an international side in March 2018. His appointment by the selectors as Afghanistan’s ODI skipper for the first time at the age of 19 years and 165 days, during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier smacked of inspiration. Especially, when in the final of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier against the West Indies, Khan stepped up to become the fastest and youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs when he dismissed Shai Hope. All the more remarkable that this was a century of wickets taken in only 44 matches, breaking Australian Mitchell Starc’s previous record of 52 by some distance. Meanwhile, in June 2018, he eclipsed another record to emerge as the fastest bowler, in terms of time, to take 50 wickets in T20Is in Afghanistan’s first T20I against Bangladesh, a milestone he reached in two years and 220 days.
However, returning to Khan’s match-winning 5-27 in the third Twenty20 international, in Dehradun.
Afghanistan made 210 for 7 in 20 overs: Mohammed Nabi top scored with 81; Irish paceman Boyd Rankin took 3 for 53. Once Ireland took the crease, they began brightly enough, but the scoring rate underpinning their total of 178-8 in 20 overs was never sufficiently quick to catch their opponents despite opener O’Brien’s valiant 74. Rashid’s prolific wicket taking ability simply stole the run chase away from the Irish, enabling Afghanistan to win the match by 32 runs.
Nabi hit seven sixes in his 81 which powered Afghanistan above 200 for the second time in two days.
Meanwhile O’Brien who spearheaded the chase for Ireland passed a landmark of his own. As he reached his half-century he became only the fourth Irishman to reach 1,000 runs in O’Brien in the T20I format. Sadly the Dubliner was the first batsman to fall to Khan with the last ball of the 16th over, caught when driving at a wide delivery with the bottom edge which just carried to wicketkeeper Shafiqullah Shafiq.
A 2-0 lead going into Sunday’s meant the game was a dead rubber for Afghanistan, nonetheless, Ireland came into the final game looking to restore a degree of pride having been on the receiving end of a record 278 for 3 T20 international drubbing in the second match.
Hazratullah Zazai, also looking good for a World Cup performance when the time comes, scored a stunning 162 not out in that second game and once again was off to a flyer, romping to 31 after four overs.
Two quick wickets from Boyd Rankin went some way toward stemming the tide of the Afghan innings but Nabi’s 36-ball blitzkrieg ensured that Ireland were in for yet another daunting run chase.
Khan, took 4-25 a day earlier, he arrived at his second wicket in the latest harvest of four courtesy of a stunning catch over the boundary taken by the acrobatic Nabi exhibiting his all round skills before the wickets of Shane Geftake and Simi Singh fell in the next two deliveries.
The five-match ODI series between the two countries begins Thursday 28th of February before they play a Test match at the same Dehradun venue starting on 15th March.
STOP PRESS!!! Afghanistan v Ireland ODI series
Afghanistan start their ICC Cricket World Cup run up in fine style, beating Ireland by five wickets in the first of the five one-day internationals in India.
Ireland 161 all out in 49.2 overs: Paul Stirling 89; Mujeeb 3 for 14
Afghanistan 165 for 5 in 41.5 overs: Gulbadin 46; Rankin 2 for 48
Afghanistan won by 5 wickets.
Paul Stirling’s sizzling 89 containing six fours and 3 sixes might easily have done the trick given more substantial batting support, but in the end he could only help Ireland to a modest 161, as Mujeeb Ur Rahman took 3 for 14 in Dehradun.
Gulbadin Naib hit a sparkling 46 and opener Mohammed Shahzab hit 43 smartly engineered runs as Afghanistan took the spoils with 8.1 overs to spare despite the ever dependable Boyd Rankin’s 2 for 48.
Although Ireland’s spirits and momentum were probably fairly well dampened coming into a new short-format series off the back-end of a whitewash in the earlier 3-match Twenty20 series.
In truth, Ireland never really recovered from an initial slide to 14 for 3, although Stirling added a dogged but exciting 78 for the seventh wicket in conjunction with George Dockrell, who made 37. However, a secondary collapse with the loss of three wickets for a princely one run ended all hope of a competitive score and Stirling fell as the last man out with four balls remaining.
Both right-arm fast bowlers: Dawlat Zadran finished with figures of 3 for 25 and Gulbadin took 2-20 before top-scoring with 46 in what was for Afghanistan’s a fairly pedestrian run chase
