Dehradun: Afghanistan clinched their maiden Test victory by seven wickets against Ireland at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun on Monday.
Rahmat Shah scored a 122-ball 76 and Ishanullah Janat played an unbeaten knock of 65 off 129 balls as Afghanistan notched up a 147-run target on the fourth morning.
Ireland began the day in a hope to pick up a couple of early wickets, however, Afghanistan batsmen were well-prepared to handle. Shah smashed consecutive boundaries in the second over of the day to get the hang of things.
The duo of Shah and Janat kept the boundaries flowing and it did not take long for them to reach their respective half-centuries. First, Shah got his fifty-plus mark with a sweep for four off George Dockrell. Janat followed Shah as he hit two boundaries sandwiched by a six, reaching his half-century.
Both the batsmen crossed the 100-run partnership with Afghanistan needing just 32 runs to seal the win.
Unfortunately, the stand was broken and two wickets were lost – Shah was stumped off James Cameron-Dow’s delivery and Mohammad Nabi was run-out – when Afghanistan needed just three runs to win.
With Janat and Hashmatullah Shahidi in the middle, the latter found the fence off Cameron-Dow, and history was secured.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]