Ireland defeated Afghanistan in the fifth T20I by seven wickets in the rain-affected contest on August 17 to clinch the series by 3-2. Mark Adair and Joshua Little were the stars, sharing five wickets between them.
The culmination of the hard-fought series was a bit anticlimactic, with the rain pelting down in Belfast on Wednesday. The home side edged the visitors in a tight finish to clinch their first-ever T20I series victory over Afghanistan. Ireland chased down the DLS adjusted target of 56 runs (in 7 overs) with two balls to spare and with seven wickets remaining.
The toss was pretty much irrelevant as both the teams got what they wanted. Afghanistan likes to bat first, while Ireland prefers chasing. The hosts got off to an incredible start as Adair removed both the openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the very first over. In his second over, Adair dismissed Ibrahim Zadran to reduce the Afghans to 26/3 in four overs.
Usman Ghani tried to steady the ship along with Najibullah Zadran, adding 40 runs for the fourth wicket. But Little got into the action and sent back Najibullah and Mohammad Nabi on successive deliveries. Ghani was the only batter who occupied the crease, scoring an unbeaten 44 off 40. With the scoreboard reading 95 for 5 in 15 overs, the rain started pouring down, and that was it for the Afghanistan innings.
When the weather finally cleared, Ireland were given a target of 56 in seven overs on DLS method. Paul Stirling scored 16 off 10, while Lorcan Tucker made 14 off 12. Mujeeb Ur Rahman struck twice while Rashid Khan removed Tucker to make the match interesting. With 11 needed off 9, Harry Tector and George Dockrell sailed the team to a victory.
Brief scores
Afghanistan 95/5 in 15 overs (Ghani 45*, Adair 3/16, Little 2/14) lost to Ireland 56/3 in 6.4 overs (Stirling 16, Tucker 14; Ur Rahman 2/17) by seven wickets on DLS method.
