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Akbari, Sediqullah 50s And Ahmad’s Three-Fer Help Afghanistan A Wallop Ireland A

Aakash Saini

Afghanistan A defeated Ireland A [Source: @ACBofficials/x]Afghanistan A defeated Ireland A [Source: @ACBofficials/x]

The Afghanistan A cricket team recorded its first win of the ongoing A-Team tri-series in the UAE. Going up against their Irish counterparts at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan A secured a comprehensive seven-wicket win to compensate for their early loss to Sri Lanka in the series.

Here, we take a look at the entire highlights of the match, as it panned out in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, April 17.

Qais Ahmad Skittle Ireland With Ashraf And Farmanullah

After getting invited to bat first, Ireland A openers Stephen Doheny and Cade Carmichael forged 52 runs together for the first wicket in just eight overs before the latter got caught-and-bowled by Afghanistan A spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf. Doheny also followed suite courtesy of Farmanullah in the following over before Christopher De Freitas guarded his end of the crease for the next couple of hours by compiling 64 runs from 81 balls.

At the other end, however, the likes of Qais Ahmad and Naveed Zadran (1-37) kept wreaking havoc to restrict Ireland to 136-5 from 25 overs at one stage. Ahmad, who dismissed Morgan Topping and Benjamin Calitz in successive deliveries, picked up his third wicket of the day in the form of Liam McCarthy.

Sharafuddin Ashraf (2-47) and Farmanullah (2-37) also added a wicket each to their tally after their opening breakthroughs as Ireland A folded up for just 203 in 41.1 overs.

Akbari, Sediqullah Atal Bludgeon 50s In Small Chase

Chasing 204, Afghanistan lost opening batter Abdul Malik for just 10 to Thomas Mayers in the ninth over of the innings. Forming forces at 34-1, unbeaten opener Zubaid Akbari (76 off 84) and number three batter Sediqullah Atal (52 off 31) both unleashed fiery half-centuries and crafted a match-defining 93-run partnership for the second wicket to steer Afghanistan A to 127 in 19 overs.

Both Atal and Akbari were eventually dismissed by Jordan Neill and Cian Robertson respectively as Afghanistan A reached 162-3 around the halfway stage of the innings.

Captain Darwish Rasooli (33* off 43), along with fellow middle-order batter Ikram Alikhil (25* off 20) shrugged off the required runs with an unbeaten 45-run partnership as Afghanistan A completed a seven-wicket triumph in just 33.1 overs.