ICC World Cup Qualifiers, 2018: Afghanistan vs Ireland – Statistical Highlights

Afghanistan became the last team to qualify for the 2019 World Cup after a close win against Ireland in the final Super Sixes game. In a must-win game for both sides, Ireland elected to bat first and posted 209/7 on the board. Afghanistan cruised towards a win with Mohammad Shahzad scoring a 50-ball 54 at the top. However, some tight overs and wickets from Irish bowlers put the Afghans under pressure but their skipper Asghar Stanikzai struck an unbeaten 29-ball 39 to see his home through to the finals to be played on Sunday.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the final Super Sixes game:

0 – Number of wickets for Mujeeb Ur Rahman/Zadran in the ten overs he bowled in this game. This is the first time Mujeeb went wicketless in the 14 ODIs he played so far. He bagged 31 wickets in the 14 ODI games at an average of 17.38.

4 – Number of fifty-plus scores for Mohammad Shahzad in 12 ODI games against Ireland. These are the most 50+ scores for any player against Ireland in ODI cricket. Rahmat Shah also scored four fifties in 13 ODIs vs Ireland.

5 – Number of times Paul Stirling got runout in ODI cricket all of them since 2010. In these eight years, only Andy Balbirnie (5) got run out five times among the Ireland players in ODI cricket.

7 – Number of fifty-plus scores for Paul Stirling in ODI cricket against Afghanistan. These are the most number of 50+ scores for any player against Afghanistan and also the most for an Ireland player against any opponent in ODI cricket. His 720 runs against them are also the most by any player vs Afghans and the most for an Irish player vs any opponent in this format.

99 – Number of wickets for Rashid Khan in ODI cricket so far. He needs one more wicket for becoming the 2nd Afghanistan player to take 100 ODI wickets. Rashid needs one more wicket in the next eight ODI games to become the quickest to reach the milestone.

100 – This game was Niall O’Brien’s 100th ODI game for Ireland. He became the 3rd player after his brother Kevin O’Brien (125) and William Porterfield (119) to feature in 100 ODIs for Ireland.

210 – Afghanistan defeated Ireland for only the 2nd time in six games while chasing in the ODI cricket. The Afghans chased down 230 against them in the last year’s Greater Noida ODI.