Stumps Afghanistan 155 and 134 for 3 (Shahidi 53*, Noor 32, Adair 2-23) lead Ireland 263 (Stirling 52 Campher 49, Zia-ur-Rehman 5-64, Naveed 3-59) by 26 runs
Hashmatullah Shahidi‘s unbeaten 53 led Afghanistan’s batting and left the Abu Dhabi Test delicately poised at stumps on the second day. After conceding a 108-run first-innings lead, Afghanistan fought back to end the day at 134 for 3 in their second innings, with a lead of 26 runs.
Shahidi will resume his stand with debutant Rahmanullah Gurbaz on Friday while Ireland will hope that their spinners can make a bigger impact on day three.
For Ireland, Paul Stirling made 52 and four other batters scored between 30 and 50 to lift them to 263. Left-arm spinner Zia-ur-Rehman’s control and Naveed Zadran‘s pace didn’t allow Ireland’s batters to build on their starts.
Zia wheeled away for 30 overs, returning 5 for 64 – his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket – while Naveed picked up 3 for 59.
Naveed had found variable bounce in the first over of the day under cloudy skies while Zia, at the other end, drifted the ball in towards the stumps before ripping it past the edge consistently.
Full report to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo