| Afghanistan 152-9 (20 overs): Nabi 59, Atal 352, Rashid 25; Adair 3-27, Little 2-20, McCarthy 2-33 |
| Eire 142-8 (20 overs): Balbirnie 45, Delany 39, Stirling 24; Rashid 4-14, Kharote 2-23 |
| Afghanistan win by 10 runs |
| Full scorecard |
Mohammad Nabi’s 59 and Rashid Khan’s 4-14 helped Afghanistan stage the Twenty20 sequence in opposition to Eire.
Afghanistan slumped to 14-4 early on in Sharjah after Josh Little and Mark Adair each took two wickets.
However Nabi’s 38-ball innings helped the Afghans publish a aggressive 152-9.
Eire seemed on the right track to win the sequence as they reached 49-0 in 5.1 overs earlier than wickets tumbled and regardless of late huge hitting from Gareth Delany, they may solely attain 142-8.
Skipper Paul Stirling was bowled by Nangeyalia Kharote and whereas Eire rallied to succeed in 68-1, Rashid dismissed Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector in successive balls to show the competition in Afghanistan’s favour.
Nabi then caught and bowled Curtis Campher earlier than Kharote crucially trapped Andrew Balbirnie lbw after the Eire Check skipper had reached 45.
The Irish seemed set for a heavy defeat as franchise star Rashid bowled George Dockrell and Mark Adair to go away them on 95-7 however Delany produced late resistance as he hit 4 sixes in an 18-ball 39 earlier than departing off a Fazalhaq Farooqi supply, with Sediqullah Atal taking the catch.
Nabi’s inning included three sixes and 6 fours, with Atal (35) and Rashid (25) additionally making very important contributions with the bat after Little and Adair had ripped by means of Afghanistan’s prime order.
Little bowled Rahmanullah Gurbaz to go away the Afghans on 6-1 with Adair dismissing Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Ishaq in successive balls earlier than Azmatullah Omarzai was out for a duck off one other Little supply.
Nonetheless, Nabi and Atal steadied the Afghanistan innings with a significant 79-run partnership.
The sequence decider will happen in Sharjah on Monday, which is able to spherical off three weeks of motion between the counties, Eire having gained the one-off Check in Abu Dhabi earlier than the Afghans clinched a 2-0 victory in a one-day sequence the place one of many video games needed to be deserted due to rain.
Eire earned a 38-run victory within the T20 sequence opener on Friday when Tector hit 56 and Ben White took 4 Afghanistan wickets.