Balbirnie: Rashid and Najibullah are very hard to bowl too. We left a couple of chances there that could have turned things. We now have a decider to look forward to. The guys showed intent, but they have quality spinners. We are going to go to the World Cup where we will be in these must-win games. We rest tomorrow and come at them on Wednesday.
Nabi: Really important for us to take early wickets and put Ireland under pressure. Najib played brilliant innings and the team needed that partnership with Rashid. Rashid has the power to clear boundaries and is a good batsman at the death. We will keep it simple and the way Afghanistan is playing, hopefully, we do well here.
Rashid Khan is the Player of the Match: I think it was a hard couple of games, but I had a one-month game and didn’t play cricket. I think the team needed that 20-25 runs from me at the end. We just tried our best to stay calm and anything 120-plus was the target. But the way Najib played, great partnership… I want to dedicate this Man-of-the-Match award to Farid Malik who has come back and bowled well.
Afghanistan vs Ireland 4th T20I Highlights today, Monday 15-8-2022. 4th T20I, Afghanistan tour of Ireland from Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast.
Toss: Ireland have opted to chase.
Afghanistan team: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Malik.
Ireland team: Paul Stirling, Andy Balbirnie (capt), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Mark Adair, Simi Singh, Barry McCarthy, Josh Little.
Head to Head In T20I’s: 22
Afghanistan Won: 16
Ireland Won: 6
Match Timings: 14:30 GMT | 15:30 Local
Umpires – Mark Hawthorne, Paul Reynolds
Match Referee – Graham McCrea
Reserve Umpire – Jareth McCready
Match number – T20I no. 1736
