Axar Patel's all-round heroics in County debut, KL Rahul does a Dele Alli, and more - Cricket News of Today, 21st August 2018

#4. Afghanistan's all-round efforts engulf Ireland in opening contest

Afghanistan has been producing some noteworthy performances in the last few months

The minnow Asian nation of Afghanistan continues to bring out extremely young match-winners into the game of cricket, as evident from the performances of 20-year olds Hazratullah Zazai and Rashid Khan, in the series opener against Ireland, earlier today. The duo's combined efforts resulted in Ireland's 16-run loss in their own backyard.

After the start was delayed by an hour because of persistent drizzle, a couple of overs were cut short from either team's innings, after which Ireland's Gary Wilson won the toss and put Afghanistan into bat, seeing the overcast conditions in play. Zazai was one of the openers and he attacked right from the outset, carting a six of his third ball and never looking back since. He ended his stint at 74 off 33 balls, after which Shahzad scored a fast 31, but no one else was able to make much of an impact as Afghanistan concluded at 160/7 in 18 overs. Joshua Little (2/20) was the pick of the Irish bowlers.

But even 161 became a daunting task for Ireland, with Mujeeb ur Rahman striking twice in his first two overs. As Paul Stirling and Kevin O Brien followed suit to the openers, the match was already touted to be in the Afghan bag, and that was even before Rashid Khan came into bowl.

Rashid, in turn, ran through the Irish tail, picking up three wickets overall and sealing the game as Ireland crumpled at 144/9 in 18 overs. Zazai was the man-of-the-match.