Afghanistan vs Ireland 2019, 3rd ODI – Statistical Highlights

Ireland finally managed a win under their belt in their ongoing tour of India where they are up against a formidable Afghanistan team. The Afghans were five down for just 74 runs after electing to bat first in the 3rd ODI of the series. Najibullah Zadran’s unbeaten 97-ball 104 and skipper Asghar Afghan’s 75 took them to a modest total of 256/8. Ireland too found themselves in trouble losing four wickets for 73 runs on the board. However, Andy Balbirnie’s unbeaten century was well backed by George Dockrell’s 54 as they are crucial towards their way to a 4-wicket win.

Here are all the major stats and numbers recorded during Ireland’s first win on this tour:

A record knock by Balbirnie:

145* – Andy Balbirnie’s unbeaten 145 is the 3rd highest individual score for Ireland in ODI cricket and their highest during a run-chase. William Porterfield’s 119 was the previous highest ODI score for Ireland in a chase which came in the 2017 Noida ODI also against Afghanistan.

Paul Stirling scored 177 in 2010 against Canada and Ed Joyce’s unbeaten 160 against Afghanistan in the 2016 Belfast ODI are the highest ODI scores for the Irish team.

A record ton from Najibullah:

1 – Najibullah Zadran is the first Afghanistan player to score a century in ODI cricket while batting at No.5 or a lower position. Najibullah’s unbeaten 104 is the highest ODI score by an Afghanistan player while batting outside top three. Asghar Afghan (vs Ireland, 2017) and Rahmat Shah (vs Scotland, 2016) scored 101 and 100* respectively while batting at No.4 in this format for the Afghans.

18 – Najibullah Zadran is also only the 18th player to score a century in the ODI format while batting at No.7 position. Only MS Dhoni has scored more than one ODI ton while batting at this position thus far.

Dealing in maximums:

8 – Number of sixes Andy Balbirnie hit during his unbeaten 145-run knock; the most in an ODI inning for Ireland. Kevin O’Brien on two occasions and Paul Stirling once hit six sixes each in ODI innings which are the previous most by an Irish player.

Balbirnie’s eight sixes are the joint-most in an OD innings against Afghanistan. His effort is tied with Brendan Taylor’s eight sixes during his 125-run knock in the last year’s Sharjah ODI.

10 – Ireland hit ten sixes in this game including eight of them from Balbirnie. Only the 2nd time Ireland have hit ten or more sixes in an ODI inning. Irish team hit 11 sixes against Scotland in the 2018 Dubai ODI.

A record partnership:

143 – The 143-run partnership between Balbirnie and George Dockrell is Ireland’s 2nd highest 5th wicket ODI stand. Eoin Morgan and Kevin O’Brien added an unbeaten 181 stand in the 2008 Benoni ODI against Canada.

The 162-run stand between Kevin and Alex Cusack for the 6th wicket in the 2011 CWC against England is the only other partnership by an Irish pair which is higher than Balbirnie-Dockrell for the 5th or lower wicket in ODIs.

143 – Balbirnie and Dockrell’s 143-run stand is the highest for a 5th or lower wicket in the ODI format against Afghanistan. Overall, this is the 9th partnership of 143 or more runs conceded by Afghans in ODI cricket with eight of them recorded while defending a total.

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