Twitter Reactions: Kevin O Brien's last ball six in Super Over ends Ireland's seven year victory drought against Afghanistan

Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan won the toss and elected to field first.

By Jasvinder Singh

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5 Min Read

Kevin O'Brien
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Kevin O’Brien. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Afghanistan locked horns with Ireland in the final game of the three-match T20I series. It turned out to be a nail-biting thriller in which Ireland managed their first victory against Afghanistan after a long span of seven years in T20Is. And, Kevin O Brien emerged as the hero and led his side to the win with a match-winning six in a thrilling Super Over.

Earlier, Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan won the toss and elected to field first. The decision turned out to be a reasonable one as the bowlers helped managed to take early breakthroughs in the match. Naveen-ul-Haq, who got his first game of this series, dismissed Ireland’s in-form opener, Paul Stirling, on the fourth delivery of the innings. The right-hand batsman went for a six off pacer but failed to judge the slow delivery and he ended up giving an easy catch to Mohammad Nabi at mid-off.

Qais Ahmad, the leg-spinner, who made his debut in T20I cricket took the second wicket for the day as he dismissed Andrew Balbrine in the third over. By that time, Ireland was left struggling as their two top-order players were sent back to the pavilion.

Later on, Gareth Delany (37 runs off 29 balls) and Kevin O’Brien (26 runs off 21 balls) stitched a brilliant partnership of 62 runs in order to rescue their side from the early setbacks. But before they could do more damage with the bat for Afghanistan, Qais Ahmad, the debutant dismissed a settled Kevin O’Brien.

Kevin O’Brien finishes in style for Ireland

In the very next over, Rashid Khan sent Delany back due to which Ireland were again sent back on to the backfoot in the match. Meanwhile, Harry Tector played a responsible knock of 31 runs off 22 balls and weaved his innings with one boundary and two sixes. Tector helped his side in posting a competitive total of 142 runs for the loss of eight wickets in stipulated 20 overs.

Naveen-ul-Haq and debutant Qais Ahmad emerged a nightmare for Ireland batting line-up as they took a total of six wickets together in the match. Rashid Khan also added a wicket under his belt in the match.

Coming onto the chase, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (42 runs off 29 balls) and Usman Ghani (18 runs off 24 balls) helped Afghanistan in getting off to a good start as they stitched an amazing partnership of 60 runs for the first wicket. However, Gareth Delany brought his side back into the game by taking the wicket of both the openers in a single over. Soon, Barry McCarthy castled Karim Janat that immediately pushed Afghanistan team on the back foot in the game.

In the end, the equation came down to 16 runs off 6 balls with Asghar Afghan and Rashid Khan on the crease. On the first ball, Rashid took one run and gave the strike to his captain. Fans were hopeful that their skipper might turn the tables for the team but that never happened, who got dismissed off Joshua Little on the third delivery of the last over. At that time, Afghanistan needed 13 runs off 3 balls.

Meanwhile, Joshua looked under pressure as Rashid Khan was on strike due to which he bowled a wide. On the very next delivery, the batsman in charge smacked him for a maximum. Suddenly, the 21-year-old brought his side back into the game. Later on, he smacked the last ball for a boundary that took the match to the tie-breaking Super Over.

In the tie-breaking Super Over, Afghanistan sent Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mohammad Nabi to bat but they could only gather eight runs and it looked like a cakewalk for Ireland cricket team. However, that was not the case. Paul Sterling and Kevin O’Brien walked out to bat for Ireland in the tie-breaker. Kevin got off the mark with a single and Sterling smacked a boundary on the second delivery. But, Rashid Khan dismissed the right-hander on his third ball.

Later on, the equation came down to three runs off 1 ball when Kevin O’Brien smashed big six against Rashid that helped Ireland in winning their first game in the shorter format against Afghanistan after seven long years. This victory also helped them in facing a whitewash in the three-match T20I series.

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