It's a historic day for Afghanistan: Asghar
19 March, 2019
Afghanistan registered their first Test victory after Rahmat Shah's second fifty of the match helped secure their seven-wicket win against Ireland in a one-off contest in Dehradun on Monday.
Chasing 147 for the victory, Afghanistan rode a 139-run stand between Shah and Ihsanullah Janat to romp home for a memorable win nine months after their chastening Test debut against India.
It was their maiden Test victory, in just their second ever Test – the latest feat by a team that's made a habit of it. Apart from Australia, who won in their maiden Test, only England and Pakistan have secured a Test win within two matches.
Just how much the victory meant was summed up by winning captain Asghar Afghan. “Happy for today, it's a very historic day for Afghanistan, for Afghanistan people, for our team, for our cricket board. We are very happy,” he said.
“When [we play] a lot of Test matches, we mature. Nowadays, we're playing a lot in Afghanistan first-class cricket. Before, it was three-day, two-day cricket. Now we're playing first-class cricket.
“It was our dream to play Test cricket. It was just our second Test and we won the game. I'll give a lot of credit to our bowlers, especially Rashid Khan, Waqar, Yamin, and Nabi. They bowled very well, on a wicket that was good for batting.”
Apart from the bowling quartet, one of Afghanistan's stars was Rahmat Shah. He put behind poor form in the ODIs – he scored just one half-century in five outings – to score two in as many innings in Test whites.
SCORES IN BRIEF
IRELAND: First innings 172
AFGHANISTAN: First innings 314
IRELAND: Second innings 288
AFGHANISTAN: Second innings 149 for 3 (Janat 65 not out, Shah 76; McBrine 1-35, Cameron-Dow 1-24)
Result: Afghanistan won by 7 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Rahmat Shah.
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