We are confident of beating any team in Tests, says Mohammad Nabi

Afghanistan team made their supporters proud by winning their first ever Test match in Dehradun, as they defeated Ireland by seven wickets. This was the first Test match between the two newest entrants in the Test arena. Afghanistan’s bowling attack made them proud by keeping Ireland to just 172 in the first innings, which was only possible due to a fifty by Irish no.11 batsman Tim Murtagh.

Veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi picked three wickets along with Yamin Ahmadzai also picking three wickets. Then batsman Rahmat Shah scored 98, as the Afghan batting clicked this time in contrast to their performance against India in their first ever Test in Bengaluru in 2018, where they were bowled out twice in one day.

It’s a historic day

Former Afghanistan limited overs captain Mohammad Nabi contributed to the team’s win, which made them only the third team to win their first Test in their second outing after England and Pakistan. Only Australia has won their first ever Test, back in 1877.

“It’s a very historic day for the whole of Afghanistan. Especially for those guys who bring cricket from zero to Test cricket. We played two games and we won one,” Nabi said in the post-match press conference.

“When you win then teams will tell you to come and play with them. Nobody plays a weak team. They might think that Afghanistan is weak but not so much that we can’t fight them. We have the world’s best spinners and we try to concentrate on our batting line-up. If we can put up a good score on board then we are confident of beating any team in the world, he further added.

Performances galore for Afghanistan

While Rahmat Shah walked away with the Man of the Match award for his twin fifties in the match, including the score of 98, Ihsanullah also scored a fifty along with Hasmatullah Shahidi and captain Asghar Afghan.

Rashid Khan, on the other hand, picked the first ever five-wicket haul for Afghanistan in Ireland’s second innings. He returned with the figures of 5/82. Khan along with fellow spinners Nabi and Waqar Salamkheil accounted for 14 of the 20 Irish wickets to fall during the one-off match. Mohammad Nabi also called Rashid’s spell a great matter of pride for the Afghanistan team.

“Every format is different. Test has a different flavour to it. We played a lot of T20 and one-day matches and won but Test win was first. The way our guys performed in batting and bowling, the kind of comebacks that we did… It shows we are ready for Test cricket,” confident Nabi signed off.

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