Over the years, the cricket fans have witnessed the love of the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani for the game of cricket. During the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, Ghani even said jokingly that Afghanistan was not going to give away its star player Rashid Khan after the spinner came up with impressive performances in the tournament. On Monday, the President also congratulated the Afghanistan team on their maiden Test win and it was acknowledged by Rashid.
Ghani congratulated the Afghanistan team for its maiden Test win against Ireland and said it was a pride to see the team witnessing quite a steady rise in the recent times. In reply, Rashid said the president’s encouragement always gave them positive energy.
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Afghanistan’s performance was quite inspirational against Ireland despite the fact that it was just their second Test series. They played their maiden Test against India in Bengaluru last year but was hammered on that occasion by an innings and 262 runs. They met Ireland at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun and came up with a spirited performance to win the match by 7 wickets.
Afghanistan bundled out the opponents for only 172 on Day 1 and it became that much easier for them to take control of the game from there on. Ireland came up with a fight but eventually, their target of 147 was not difficult for the Asians to overhaul on Day 4 of the match. For Ireland, it was the second loss in as many Tests after their 5-wicket defeat against Pakistan at home last year.
Here is the tweet:
Congratulations to you as well MR President @ashrafghani . Your support and motivation always giving us positive energy to make beloved country Afghanistan 🇦🇫 more proud ✌🏻✌🏻🇦🇫🇦🇫🇦🇫
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) March 18, 2019
As expected, Rashid bowled brilliantly as he took seven wickets in the game after conceding 107 runs. He played a crucial role in the second innings by running through Ireland’s middle-order that prevented them from taking a bigger lead. The Man of the Match award though went to opener Rahmat Shah who hit 98 and 76 in the two innings and almost became his side’s first batsman to score a Test century.
