Ireland 171 for 3 (Balbirnie 51, Tucker 50, Mujeeb 1-22) beat Afghanistan 168 for 7 (Ghani 59, Ibrahim 29, McCarthy 3-34, Dockrell 2-7) by seven wickets
After losing in seven T20Is and three ODIs and not managing to register a win all summer – despite coming perilously close on more than one occasion – Ireland finally managed a W in their column. In what turned out to be a nail-biting finish, George Dockrell and Harry Tector kept their cool as Ireland beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in the first T20I in Belfast. It was, however, a chase that the hosts almost fluffed up.
Needing 48 runs off six overs with nine wickets in hand, chasing 169, Ireland seemed to be in the driver’s seat, but a couple of tight overs gave Afghanistan a sniff again. With 13 needed off the last over, Dockrell, though, held his nerve and slammed Naveen-ul-Haq for two successive fours to give Ireland the win with one ball to spare.