Sharjah, March 13
Following a clean sweep in the ODI series against Ireland at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said that it's important to maintain the winning momentum as an important T20I series is lined up for the team against Ireland starting on Friday.
"I thought we were a little bit short with the runs. We were in a good position but the wicket slowed down and we felt our selection for this game was right. Nabi took the responsibility as a senior player and Nangyal after a rough first over, showed his steel. That's what's important about this series, start blooding the youngsters," Trott said in the post-match presentation.
"Sri Lanka we did not play the cricket we know we can. There will be ups and downs in that format. We pride ourselves on our white-ball cricket. We have an important T20 series coming up, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves for cricket is a great leveller. It's important we maintain this momentum," the former right-hand batter added.
Recapping the match, Nabi's five-wicket haul helped Afghanistan clinch a 117-run win over Ireland in the 3rd ODI at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah on Tuesday. Hashmatullah Shahidi's Afghanistan also sealed a series win by 2-0, after securing victory in the first and final 50-over match. The second ODI match of the series was abondoned after rain played a spoilsport.
After winning the toss, Paul Stirling's Irish side decided to send the Afghan squad to bat first. However, their decision did not go in their favour as Ireland's bowling attack failed to perform well. Gurbaz (51 runs from 53 balls) and Ibrahim Zadran (22 runs from 31 balls) opened for Afghanistan and played a partnership of 62 runs, which helped the hosts to get a fiery start in the game. At the end of the first inning, Mohammad Nabi (48 runs from 62 balls) played a crucial role powered Afghanistan's total to 236/9.
During the run chase, Andrew Balbirnie (1 run from 8 balls) and skipper Stirling (50 runs from 53 balls) failed to make a crucial partnership and lead Ireland to chase the target of 237 runs. However, Stirling played a captain's knock but his half-century went in vain even after hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Gurbaz was crowned the 'Player of the Series' after he ended the series as the highest run scorer with 172 runs at an average of 86.00.