Belfast: Ireland beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in the first T20 International cricket match Andrew Balbirnie played captaincy innings. This is his first win in the shortest format on home soil this season. Batting first, Afghanistan scored 168 for seven. George Dockrell hit the winning boundary in the fifth ball of the 20th over as Ireland reached 171 for three.

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Captain Andrew Balbirnie hit a half-century

Afghanistan scored 30 runs in the last two overs, including an unbeaten 29 off 18 balls by Ibrahim Zadran. But Ireland’s opener Paul Stirling (31 off 29 balls) and captain Andrew Balbirnie (51 off 38 balls) got the team off to a great start by adding 61 runs in 7.3 overs for the first wicket.

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Tucker and Dockrell return winning

Wicket-keeper batsman Lorcan Tucker kept Ireland in good shape after scoring 50 runs off 32 balls. Harry Tucker (25 not out) and Dockrell (10 not out) took the team to the target. Earlier, Dockrell took two for seven while Barry McCarthy took three for 34. For Afghanistan, Usman Ghani scored 59 runs in 42 balls, which included two sixes and six fours. The second match of this five-match series will be played on Thursday.