Ireland won the first T20I of the three-match series against Afghanistan in Sharjah on Friday by 38 runs. Ben White and Josh Little bowled brilliantly for the visitors, while Harry Tector hit an unbeaten half-century to help Ireland seal the series The match leads host Afghanistan 1-0. “Really delighted. It was a fantastic team performance,” Ireland captain Paul Stirling said, according to Cricinfo. “We’ve still got two months to go. So we’ve got to put this behind us. .We have to give our best performance to win the game,” he added, looking ahead to the T20 World Cup starting in June.

Afghanistan needed 150 runs to win and Mark Adair took the wicket of Rahmanullah Gubaz on the first ball of the first innings. Afghanistan got off to a nightmare start.

Gubaz’s opening partner Sedikulla Attal soon joined him in the stands when Little got him to catch one off Tekto.

The Irish left-hander then bowled the first ball to Azmatullah Omarzai to create a hat-trick chance in the second over of the innings.

White then took over the offense and eliminated leading scorer Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Ijaz Ahmed Ahmedzai with 32 points. Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai and Nangeyalia Kharote ended the match with 4-20.

There was too much to do at the end and despite resistance from Naveen-ul-Haq, who took 13 off 15 balls, Afghanistan were bowled out for 111 after 18.4 overs .

Returning Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan had earlier won the toss and had Ireland batting.

Harry Tector’s unbeaten 56 off 34 balls, including 7 fours and 2 sixes, led Ireland to 149-6.

Sterling and Andy Balbirnie started well for the visitors, taking the first wicket in the 38th over, but Balbirnie fell to Azmatullah in the 22nd Before Azmatullah Omarzai.

Khan, who returned after an injury layoff, was the pick of the bowlers with a record of 3-19, scoring 25 in the 11th over of Ireland’s opener against Stirling to win his first A bowler.

The leg-spinner then immediately removed the dangerous Curtis Campher for a golden duck before breaking Gareth Delany with Tekto in the 17th over. Tector).

Teketo fought hard in midfield but was unable to establish a good partnership with those around him until Delany and Adair arrived at the crease.

The right-hander, who made 35 runs with Delani and an unbeaten 42 with Adair, set a target of 150 for Afghanistan but ultimately failed to achieve it for the hosts.

It has already been a successful tour as Ireland won the first Test match on March 1 and the tourists can wrap up the T20I series by winning the second match in Sharjah on Sunday.

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