Afghanistan XI defeat RCB XI by 28 runs in a practice game ahead of Ireland series

Ireland and Afghanistan will be locking horns later this month in three T20Is, five ODIs and a solitary Test match in India. This series will also last for Afghanistan before the World Cup as their players will ply their trade in the Indian Premier League from March 23. The team is already in Bengaluru for a training camp and they played a practice game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore XI on Tuesday to beat them by 28 runs.

Afghanistan XI, while batting first, posted a mammoth total of 181 runs in 20 overs. The skipper Asghan Afghan led from the front as he scored 47 runs. He was very well supported by the likes of Hazratullah Zazai and the experienced campaigner Samiullah Shenwari. While Zazai smashed 43 runs, the latter added 26 runs to the team’s cause.

Chinaman Zahir shines for Afghanistan

The RCB XI, in response, failed to gun down the total and fell short of the target by 28 runs. They could only manage to muster 152 runs in their allotted 20 overs despite a valiant effort from Himmat Singh. Himmat played a brilliant knock of 65 runs in the chase but didn’t get enough support at the other end and eventually, the team fell short while chasing the daunting total.

The chinaman bowler Zahir Khan was the star for Afghanistan XI as he accounted for three scalps and didn’t concede many runs during his four-over spell. Even the other bowlers chipped in with timely wickets and didn’t let the opposition batsmen off the hook.

These matches are part of Afghanistan’s training camp for the series against Ireland. A total of 40 players are part of the camp and the final squad will travel to Dehradun to face Ireland. The tour will start with the T20 Internationals on February 21 while the all-important ODI series to commence on February 20. The tour will conclude with the only Test which is scheduled to start from March 15.

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