Twitter Reactions: Afghanistan win thriller despite Porterfield's heroics

The 1st One Day International between Afghanistan and Ireland turned out to be a humdinger of a contest. After having secured a whitewash in the T20 internationals, Afghanistan produced another fantastic performance to begin the ODI series with a win.

Earlier in the day, it was Captain Asghar Stanikzai who won the toss as Afghanistan elected to bat first. The Afghan openers began in emphatic fashion with a 68 run partnership for the first wicket. While Mohammed Shahzad went on to miss out on a half century, Noor Ali Zadran scored his seventh fifty in ODIs.

Rehmat Shah who came in at No.3 scored a brilliant 78 runs as they gave a brilliant start to the Afghanistan innings. Once they were out, some useful contributions from the lower order batsmen like Samiullah Shenwari Hashmatullah Shahidi and Mohammed Nabi ensured Afghanistan reached a good total of 292/7 in their quota of 50 overs.

While the rest of the bowling line-up was taken away for the cleaners by the Afghan batting, Kevin O’Brien stood out with splendid bowling figures of 3/47. Tim Murtagh, George Dockrell and Peter Chase got a wicket each.

After losing Ed Joyce early, Paul Stirling and captain William Porterfield laid the foundation for Ireland as they stitched a 153 run partnership for the third wicket. While Stirling scored a half century, Porterfield played a captain’s knock with a scintillating ninth century in ODIs.

At 206/2, it was always going to be Ireland’s game. However, there was a twist in the tale. The Afghanistan bowlers scripted a major turnaround as the Irish innings was reduced to 233/8. They were further bundled for 262 runs without even lasting 50 overs as Afghanistan continued their winning run in the tour with a 30 run victory over Ireland.

Rashid Khan again bowled splendidly with figures of 4/48. However, it was Dawlat Zadran’s furious bowling which led to the fall of the Irishmen. He finished with 4/53 while Amir Hamza also pocketed a couple of wickets. William Porterfield who scored a magnificent hundred in a losing cause was rewarded the man of the match.

Here are some of the Twitter reactions that took place during the course of the game.