Ireland vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I at Belfast, IRE v AFG, Aug 09 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

These two teams look to be matching up well, so this could be a closely contested series. The ebby-flowiness of this game was enjoyable. Let's hope there's more coming. On that note, it's goodbye from me, Ekanth, my co-commentator Ashish Pant, and our scorer, Ranjith P.

Andy Balbirnie, Ireland Captain and POTM: It's a lot more fun when you are scoring runs. We have been hurting after recent losses, but this win is great. (On his batting) When you're out of form, you can over-analyse, but I kept it simple. I watched the ball closely and did well, I hope my form will continue. (From the team's pov) We have played well this summer so far without getting over the line. We bowled well, we had wickets in hand with the bat. That meant we could go harder. We need to learn to balance aggression and caution early on. Not losing wickets in the first six is important, we navigated through that well. We had defined roles and stuck to them. Our bowlers did well. Gareth is in good rhythm, we have good options. (On the score) The target was chaseable, we bowled to good plans. We ask our bowlers to be clear mentally and they did it well today.

Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan Captain: We haven't played a game since a month. It was a good game, we were 10-15 runs short. It was a good pitch. Ireland batted well. Usman played really well, he's scored a lot in the domestic games and thus got a chance today. We need to work on our lines and lengths, we missed it in the first six and at the death too.

Dave: "Been following this Afghan team right from the beginning. The only problem that seem to me with this team is except Nabi as soon as players get good experience they are dropped for young blood. Shahzad, Afghan, Shinwari, Dawlat, Shapoor, Hamid, Naib and the list goes on. All the momentum for achieving greater feat is killed. I mean why?"

Dipanjan Show: "Finally, I can sleep well tonight. Also this ends the 11 match losing streak for Ireland across formats that began on 24 February."

6:56 pm: Ireland finally make it over the line. They started well in the chase, Balbirnie and Stirling were great. But Nabi and Rashid were good in drying up the runs after the powerplay. There were a few quiet overs towards the end, particularly from Fazal Farooqi, who seemed to have an on-demand subscription to the ability to nail yorkers. After the settled batters were dismissed, Tector could not get going. In the end, that changed and he managed to pull through, Dockrell iced his bowling excellence by finishing on a high with the bat allowing Ireland a 1-0 lead.

Azweer : "Atlast.... Ireland crosses the line..!!"

Albert Mawonde: "Phew, tight ending, but, as l expected, the Irish crossed the line by a whisker"

Two needed off two. Archit Athani: "Surely, not gonna choke this one now!!"

Pugi: "Can Tector hold his nerve and cross the line for Ireland? "

Both Tector and Naveen look to have had picked up niggles on the way. Tector's seems to be a wrist issue. But both are okay.

13 needed, 12 for a super over

That leads to some time-off as the captain and bowler have a conference.

Naseer Sadiq: "Such an intersting match Afghanistan alweays produces close encounters "

Farooqi starts from around the wicket

David : "This will be yet another irish choke in a long line of chokes this summer. " It is premonition o'clock.

Three quiet overs takes the required rate up to 11. Tector has tried to go big but hasn't been successful.