Live Score

01:00 IST and 23:30 Local Time | Despite Gareth Delany's valiant effort in the later stages of the game, the Irish side fell flat by 10 runs. Afghanistan are the deserving winners of this game and all the appreciation goes to the Afghan spin trio.

Coming to bat first, Afghanistan lost their four top order batters in just 14 runs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz(3), Ibrahim Zadran(5), Mohammad Ishaq(0) and Azmatullah Omarzai(0) got out cheaply and after that Sediqullah Atal and Mohammad Nabi started to put some fight back. They registered a 79 run partnership between them off 57 balls before Atal getting run out scoring 35 runs off 32 balls. But Mohammad Nabi continued to hit hard on the loose deliveries and got to his 6th fifty and departed putting up 59 runs on board facing just 38 balls with 6 fours and 3 maximums. Ijaz Ahmadzai and Nangeyalia Kharote got out cheaply but Rashid Khan's fiery cameo of 25 runs off 12 balls with 3 fours and a maximum has helped his team to reach 152 run at the end of 20 overs.

Mark Adair was the star of the bowling for Ireland picking up 3 wickets. Joshua Little and Barry McCarthy took a couple of wickets each and Ben White took a wicket for the visitors.

Visitors started the chase nicely getting a few boundaries at the start and the opening duo of Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie added 49 runs in just 32 legal deliveries before Stirling got out for 24. Lorcan Tucker and Balbirnie showed some resistance in the middle but when Tucker(10) got out, the Irish middle order fell like a pack of card. Harry Tector(0), Curtis Campher(6) and George Dockrell(5) got out cheaply and just after a few balls, Andrew Balbirnie also got out. Balbirnie was the top scorer for his side in his 100th T20I as he scored 45 runs off 44 balls with 3 fours and 2 maximums. When 51 was needed off the final 3 overs. Gareth Delany took 22 runs from the 18th over bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi. Naveen-ul-Haq bowled the penultimate over and gave 11 runs away. Later Farooqi did well to restrict Delany from chasing the run in the final over by giving just 7 from that over. Delany added 39 runs facing just 18 balls with 3 fours and 4 maximums.

Rashid Khan was the star of the bowling show with his 4 wickets for 14 runs. Nangeyalia Kharote took 2 wickets for 23 runs while Mr. President, Mohammad Nabi took a wicket for 14 runs in his 3 over spell. 

Mohammad Nabi: "Yes, it was pressure out there first few overs. Then we realised the pitch was good. Told my partner to play ball by ball and stitch the partnership. Wicket is not that easy for the batter. No dew and ball was gripping. Variations will work here on this pitch. Yes, that wicket of Stirling was important and their opening partnership was good. That was a crucial wicket. Yes, we will try our best. The series is level at 1-1 and it's all to play for tomorrow in the decider."  

Paul Stirling (Ireland Captain): "It was a brilliant game. Great to be a part of. We did well and lots of positives to work on and let's see how it goes tomorrow. I think it's good. We have a good bonding and camaraderie and working well. Absolutely. They bowled well at the top and Afghanistan were good in the end to get past 150. Yes, that is the norm losing wickets to spin. Something to work on for us and batting against the best spinners is a challenge and a lot to work on for us. Gareth was good and he did well for us in the backend. That was crucial for us. Yes, we can win the series tomorrow. We have to play better tomorrow in the crucial phases and if we do well, then we can win the match and the series. Looking forward to series finale."  

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan Captain and Player of the Match)- "There were brief nervous moments but we have a few players who can step up in the crucial times. Nabi did a wonderful job for us after a few wicket loss in the powerplay. We are happy to square up the series and I am looking forward for the decider tomorrow."

So that's all from the second T20I match of the 3-match series between Afghanistan and Ireland. For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Ayan Chatterjee and our scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer. Good night. Do join us tomorrow for the decider of this series.