Image Credit- ACB
It reminded me of utilising an EA Sports Cricket cheat
code. They appeared to be applied to Ireland’s Josh Little and Mark Adair, who,
although opting to bat first, destroyed Afghanistan with their new-ball
bowling. In the fourth over, with the score at 14 for 4, the hitters who were
removed could only muster 3, 5, 0 and 0. The computer assisted Mohammad Nabi in
his counterattack when it appeared that the user had hit autoplay.
With Sediqullah Atal as his opening batsman, Nabi added 79 runs despite Atal’s consistent
playing, missing, and mistiming. Atal struggled to 35 from 32 balls before
being run out, ending the partnership, while Nabi hit a career-high 59 from 38.
After that, Rashid Khan lit up the late night by hitting 25 off of 12
deliveries and taking Afghanistan to 152.
Nabi, batting at
number six, got off to a good start by punching his fourth ball for four. With
one powerplay over remaining, Nabi withdrew Little for six to continue.
However, even as the field expanded, the boundaries persisted. Leading
Afghanistan’s reconstruction, Nabi drove Gareth Delany, hacked Ben White, and
cut Curtis Campher for four. By the midway point, they had forced their way up
to 68 for 4.
With 21 balls
remaining and the score at 119, Rashid arrived after dropping to No. 9. He
attacked Barry McCarthy in the following over after smashing Adair’s opening
ball for four to deep backward point. The first came after he made room and
leaped down the pitch to a shortish ball; it was a swat wide of long-off, and
the second was a no-look swipe over fine leg off a full delivery, with the ball
going over the Sachin Tendulkar stand. In the penultimate over, four more came,
but Rashid needed to do more.
Halfway through the
ninth over, Ireland were comfortably ahead at 68 for 1, when Rashid struck.
After coming back into the game, he was on a hat-trick for the second time in
as many games when Lorcan Tucker paddle swept to short fine leg and Harry
Tector was bowled by the wrong man. By the time Rashid came back to bowl the
sixteenth over, Kharote had already removed Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling,
the openers for the two sets.
In Rashid’s last over, the googly also got George Dockrell to open, and he also
cleaned up Adair with two balls later. The only thing keeping Ireland from
losing was Delany’s late-inning show with the bat. Ireland was seven down and
facing certain defeat.