| Third Twenty20 international, Greater Noida, India |
|---|
| Ireland 142-8 (20 overs): Delany 39, Tector 31; Murid 3-21, Qais 3-25 |
| Afghanistan 142-7 (20 overs): Gurbaz 42, Afghan 32; Delany 2-21, Singh 2-37 |
| Afghanistan 8-1 (super over) |
| Ireland 12-1 (super over) |
| Ireland won in super over |
| Scorecard |
Ireland snatched a super over win against Afghanistan to avoid a Twenty20 series whitewash in India as Kevin O’Brien hit a six off the last ball.
The Irish only posted 142-8 in their innings but seemed set for victory before two final-over wides off Josh Little helped the Afghans reach 142-7.
Craig Young bowled an excellent super over to concede eight runs.
After hitting a four, Paul Stirling was out lbw but O’Brien’s six off Rashid Khan in the last ball secured victory.
Afghanistan secured a series victory after winning the second T20 between the sides on Sunday and immediately got Irish opener Stirling out after four balls.
Captain Andrew Balbirnie was the next to fall on nine before O’Brien and Gareth Delany managed a partnership of 50 before the former was dismissed for 26 with Ireland at 74-3.
Delany collected six more runs before being caught at the end of the 10th over and then Lorcan Tucker was bowled for nine.
Harry Tector and Shane Getkate fell in the space of two balls to hurt Ireland’s cause as they ended up with a below-par looking total.
Afghanistan hammered 51 runs by the end of the sixth over, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz becoming the first wicket to fall on 42, quickly followed by Usman Ghani as Ireland broke the opening partnership.
Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran all fell in the space of two overs as Ireland continued to halt the batsmen’s momentum.
The Afghans needed 22 runs off 12 balls, but despite dismissing Asghar Afghan, Little’s two wides in the final over saw Afghanistan force the super over helped by Rashid’s four off the final ball.
Irish paceman Young superbly limited Gurbaz and Nabi to eight runs in Afghanistan’s super over.
After hitting a four off Ireland’s second ball, Stirling dismissal by Rashid gave Afghanistan hope and Harry Tector then had to nervously wait on a run out adjudication after wicket-keeper Gurbaz’s attempted stumping.
However, Tector’s single off the fifth ball put O’Brien on strike and the Dubliner just cleared the ropes with his shot down the ground to seal a dramatic Ireland win.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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