Twitter Reactions: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling steer the visitors to another win as Ireland draws the series

The Ireland fans were thrilled with this victory and congratulated the team.

By Suryesh M

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2 Min Read

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Ireland team. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Yet another good show from the batsmen helped Ireland stun Afghanistan in the fifth and the last ODI. An impressive show by the bowlers first up that was followed by clinical batting from Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling made this victory possible for the visitors. Especially after the way, they were decimated in the T20I series, this victory is a very special one for the Irish men.

They managed to level the ODI series 2-2 before entering the longest format of the game. This performance should give them a lot of confidence going forward. The hosts were really poor with their batting in this game. Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi played good knocks. But, they consumed a lot of deliveries which potentially cost them the game.

Asghar Afghan puts up a valiant effort

Afghanistan, after being put into bat first, made a few changes to their eleven. The side handed over a debut to the young Zahir Khan and brought Shapoor Zadran back into the eleven after a while. However, their top-order failed to click yet again. Mohammad Shahzad smashed one six before he got out. Javed Ahmadi and Rahmat Shah also weren’t successful as they put up just 24 and 17 runs respectively.

Samiullah Shenwari was also dismissed for a duck and the side was brought down to 50/4. Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi played cautious cricket at this stage. After piling up 82 runs off 111 balls, Afghan walked back retired hut as the cramps got the better of him. Nabi also failed to accelerate and scored 40 off 70 balls. With Rashid Khan adding a quickfire 35 off 28 balls towards the end, Afghanistan got to 216 runs which was a below-par total.

Stirling delivers at a crucial time; Andrew Balbirnie continues with the good form

Ireland had a 57-run opening partnership in the chase which set the tone for them. William Porterfield ended up being Zahir Khan’s first international wicket. Then Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie put together a wonderful 81-run partnership. After failing to deliver throughout the series, Stirling found his found back just at the right time.

He made a well-compiled 70 which came off 88 balls before Rashid Khan dismissed him. Balbirnie absorbed the pressure after Stirling got out. He was dismissed on 68 when his team was 10 runs shy of a victory. However, the experienced campaigner Kevin O’Brien kept his cool. He remained unbeaten on 33 as Ireland registered a 5-wicket win.

The Ireland fans were thrilled with this victory and congratulated the team on Twitter. They praised Andrew Balbirnie for putting up an impressive performance yet again. Some of the fans also lashed out at the Afghanistan batsmen for playing too slow.

Here is how Twitterati reacted:

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