OTD | Afghanistan registered their maiden Test win over Ireland in 2019

Test cricket is the holy grail. It is the stage where the art of cricket gets consummated. For any emerging or associated nation, playing Test cricket is the ultimate dream. In the last decade or so one team that has pleasantly surprised everyone with their astronomical growth is Afghanistan. It took some time for them but Afghanistan finally won their first Test on this day in 2019. 

The Afghans on top

Ireland elected to bat first after winning the toss but unfortunately, they could not pre-empt a batting collapse at the hands of a tricky Afghan bowling lineup. In the first innings, Afghanistan restricted Ireland to 172 runs. Yamin Ahmadzai and Mohammad Nabi were the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan with 3 wickets each. The leg-spinner Rashid Khan also chipped in with a couple of wickets.

Afghanistan built upon the advantage that they gained by restricting Ireland to a low total in the first innings. Ireland gave an early blow to the opposition by dismissing the opener Ihsanullah. However, Rahmat Shah’s 98-run knock did not let Ireland make any further inroads. The experienced Hashmatullah Shahidi and Asghar Afghan also scored half-centuries to take Afghanistan’s score to 314 in the first innings. This massive first-innings lead kept Afghanistan ahead in the contest. 

Second Innings

The Irish team was much more resolute with the bat in the second innings. Senior players like Andy Balbirnie and Kevin O’Brien stepped up to guide the batting unit. Some vital lower-order contributions from George Dockrell, James Cameron-Dow, and Tim Murtagh propelled Ireland to 288 runs in the second innings. This batting performance from the Irish team made the match interesting as they posted 147 runs as the target for Afghanistan. This was not a huge target but one to fight for. 

However, Afghanistan’s batting unit exhibited a mature performance as they did not encounter much trouble in completing the run chase. Ihsanullah and Rahmat Shah smashed half-centuries to lead their team to the 147-run mark. Afghanistan won the match comfortably by 7 wickets courtesy of a collective performance.