Ireland Cricket created history when they won their first-ever Test match on Friday. Andrew Balbirnie and his men won the game by six wickets in Abu Dhabi. It was a memorable result for Ireland who have been one of the most promising cricket teams.
Chasing 111 to win, Ireland was able to chase down the runs inside 32 overs for the loss of 4 wickets. Skipper Andrew Balbirnie was the top scorer with 58 not-out from 96 balls. it was the second Test loss in successive games for Afghanistan.
Hasmatullah Shahidi had seen his side lose to Sri Lanka last month. The visitors had batted well in the only Test against Sri Lanka. Centuries from Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal helped the home team register an easy ten-wicket win.
Ireland creates history against Afghanistan –
It was a dream day for the fans and players of Ireland Cricket as they won their first-ever Test match. The final margin of win was six wickets on Friday at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi. Once the winning runs were hit the Irish players ran to the field and could be seen celebrating the moment.
Afghanistan took to batting first and was able to score 155 in their first innings as Ibrahim Zadran scored 53. Mark Adair was the lead wicket-taker with 5/39 from his 16.5 overs of seam bowling. Paul Stirling’s 52 and Curtis Campher (49) and Lorcan Tucker (46) helped Ireland take a lead of 108 runs. Zia-Ur-Rahman playing his 2nd Test picked 5/64 from his 30 overs.
Skipper Hasmatullah Shahidi led the second innings charge with 55 runs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz played well for 46 runs off 85 balls as the rest of the batters faltered. It was Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, and Craig Young who picked 4 wickets each.
Needing 111 to win, Ireland were 39 for 4 at one stage. Naveed Zadran picked two wickets while Nijat Masood and Zia-Ur-Rahman picked a wicket each. This is when Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker joined forces. The pair added unbeaten 72 runs for the 5th wicket in 18.3 balls to ensure the historic win.
Here’s how the fans reacted –
HISTORY AT ABU DHABI…..!!!!
IRELAND WON THIER FIRST EVER TEST MATCH. ?
– Defeating Afghanistan by 6 wickets. pic.twitter.com/cBU4KmkDXD
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 1, 2024
Itna time kyu laga inko
— ??? (@13hamdard) March 1, 2024
Wow congratulations ?
Dream for Pakistan ?
— Kapil Pratap Singh (@kapil9994) March 1, 2024
Impressive, congratulations ?, all teams are making progress ?
— Faisal Jahangeer (@FaisalJahange15) March 1, 2024
Great achievement for Ireland cricket
— shreyaaji?? (@meinhekyu) March 1, 2024
Ireland performing better than Pakistan these days
— Aditya (@CHADitya_18) March 1, 2024
Congratulations Ireland ??
— Prakash (@JeyVamos) March 1, 2024
Afghanistan just have attitude…..
— Khanzada Ejaz (@khanz74708) March 1, 2024
Congrats ??
— ? ? ? ? ? (@iMROMEO420) March 1, 2024
