Watch cricket video highlights between Afghanistan vs Ireland 2nd Twenty/20 international, played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
It reminded me of utilizing an EA Sports Cricket cheat code. They appeared to be applied to Ireland’s Josh Little and Mark Adair, who, although opting to bat first, destroyed Afghanistan with their new-ball bowling. In the fourth over, with the score at 14 for 4, the hitters who were removed could only muster 3, 5, 0 and 0. The computer assisted Mohammad Nabi in his counterattack when it appeared that the user had hit autoplay.
With Sediqullah Atal as his opening batsman, Nabi contributed 79 runs despite Atal’s consistent playing, missing, and mistiming. Atal struggled to 35 from 32 balls before being run out, ending the partnership, while Nabi hit a career-high 59 off 38. Then, Rashid Khan put on a late show, making 25 deliveries out of 12 and leading Afghanistan to 152.
Ireland, in response, began the last over of the powerplay with 49 runs without loss. With one match remaining, Afghanistan tied the three-match series at 142 thanks to a wicket-taking effort from Rashid, but Nangeyalia Kharote broke the tie and struck again later.
In the opening two overs, Little and Adair bowled nearly every ball with a significant swing, yet they were accurate with both line and length. But only one Afghanistan wicket had fallen due to bad luck. Adair struck Atal’s off stump, but Little got one to skid through to clear up Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and the bail stood.
However, Adair hit consecutive balls to conclude the third over. After allowing Ibrahim Zadran to acquire an early advantage, he trapped Mohammad Ishaq in front. Replays showed that while some luck seemed to level out, the influence could have been outside off. In the last overs, Adair also got rid of Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai, finishing with 3 for 27. Earlier, Little had successfully caught Azmatullah Omarzai behind, marking the batter’s second consecutive first-ball duck.
Arriving at position no. 6, he got off to a perfect start by punching his fourth ball for four. With one powerplay over remaining, Nabi withdrew Little for six to continue. However, even as the field expanded, the boundaries persisted. Leading Afghanistan’s reconstruction, Nabi drove Gareth Delany, hacked Ben White, and cut Curtis Campher for four. By the midway point, they had forced their way up to 68 for 4.
However, Nabi calmly ticked off singles off the spinners and blasted White for a six that sailed 90 degrees over the umpire’s head just after the drinks break. Nabi was unbeaten even after Atal went out of the game in the fourteenth over. In the fifteenth over, he struck Campher for four and then smashed White for four and six off back-to-back deliveries. White managed to get him to catch two balls later, but by then, Rashid had already been set up by Nabi, who finished the day as Afghanistan’s top run scorer in Twenty20 Internationals.
With 21 balls remaining and the score at 119, Rashid arrived after dropping to No. 9. He attacked Barry McCarthy in the following over after smashing Adair’s opening ball for four to deep backward point. The first came after he created room and sprinted down the pitch to a shortish ball; it was a swat wide of long-off, and the second was a no-look swipe over fine leg off a full delivery, with the ball going over the Sachin Tendulkar stand. In the penultimate over, four more came, but Rashid needed to do more.
Halfway through the ninth over, Ireland were comfortably ahead at 68 for 1, when Rashid struck. After coming back into the game, he was on a hat-trick for the second time in as many games when Lorcan Tucker paddle swept to short fine leg and Harry Tector was bowled by the wrong man. By the time Rashid came back to bowl the sixteenth over, Kharote had already removed Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling, the openers for the two sets.
In Rashid’s last over, the googly also got George Dockrell to open, and he also cleaned up Adair with two balls later. The only thing keeping Ireland from losing was Delany’s late-inning show with the bat. Ireland was seven behind and facing certain defeat.
