Afghanistan vs Ireland, 2020: 3rd T20I – End of Ireland's losing streak against Afghanistan, The first T20I Tie on the Indian soil and more stats

Ireland earned a consolation win from their tour of India as they edged past Afghanistan in the 3rd T20I which went into Super Over. The Irish team started off well by scoring 74/2 in nine overs but debutant Qais Ahmad’s 3-wicket haul limited them to 142/8. Afghanistan looked cruising in the chase before their middle-order struggled against Ireland pacers and found themselves in a tricky position. Rashid Khan’s six and four in the last three balls ended the game in a Tie. The Afghans scored only 8 runs in the Super Over while Ireland chased it down with Kevin O’Brien hitting a six on the last ball when three were required.

All the statistical highlights from Ireland’s Super Over win against Afghanistan in the 3rd T20I:

End of Ireland’s losing streak:

12 – This match put an end to Ireland’s 12-match losing streak in the T20I format against Afghanistan. Ireland’s last victory in T20I cricket against the Afghans came way back in 2013.

The first Tie for Afghanistan:

1 – Afghanistan involved in a Tied match in the T20I format for the first time. None of the 80 T20Is they played prior to this match came to an end in a Tie. Ireland were involved in one Tied T20I before this game which was against Scotland in 2018 where the Super Over was not played due to a misjudgment.

1 – This was also the first-ever Tied match on the Indian soil in T20I cricket. India stood host for 92 T20Is thus far; the 2nd most by any country in Men’s cricket. None of the 64 Women’s T20Is hosted by India ended in a Tie thus far.

Another good start for Afghanistan:

3 – Afghanistan had an opening stand of 50+ runs in all three matches of this series. They are the first team with three 50+ opening partnerships in a bilateral series in Men’s T20I cricket. India Women during the 3-match T20I series against Bangladesh in 2013 and Australia Women during the 4-match T20I series against Pakistan in 2014 had three 50+ opening stands.

A good spell on debut by Qais:

3/25 – Qais Ahmad’s 3/25 in this match is now the 2nd best bowling figures on T20I debut for Afghanistan. Sayed Shirzad took 3/16 against Oman during their 2015 series hosted by UAE. Qais played 50 Twenty20 matches before his T20I debut picking up 56 wickets. None of his previous 50 appearances in the T20 format has been on Indian soil.

8 – All the 8 wickets to fall in the Ireland innings were claimed by the bowlers aged less than 22. These are the joint-most wickets picked by bowlers before turning 22 in a Men’s T20I innings. Eight wickets in the Ireland innings during the 2017 T20I at this venue were shared between two Afghan bowlers who were yet to turn 22. Nigeria bowlers of age less than 22 also picked up 8 wickets during the last year’s T20I against Ghana.

Nabi doesn’t get a chance to bowl:

1 – Mohammad Nabi didn’t bowl a delivery for the first time in his 78-match T20I career. Nabi did not bowl less than six balls in any of his previous 77 T20I matches. He did not get a chance to bowl in three ODI matches thus far out of which the game was washed out on two occasions before the opposition inning.

During an ODI against Scotland in 2010, Afghanistan bowled 33.5 overs in an unsuccessful attempt of defending their total of 120 without handing the ball to Nabi.

4/258 – Only the 4th time Mohammad Nabi did not bowl a delivery in his 258-match Twenty20 career. Two of the previous three instances came during rain-affected matches – For SKN Patriots vs St Lucia Stars in 2017 CPL where the game was called off after 8.1 overs of St Lucia innings and for Leicestershire vs Derbyshire in 2018 T20 Blast where the game was washed out after 14.3 overs of Leicestershire. Nabi didn’t get to bowl during the Melbourne Renegades’ victory against Sydney Thunder during BBL 2018-19.