MALAHIDE, Ireland: Pakistan grabbed outstanding victory against Ireland as the host team all out on just 82 runs with 255 runs away from the desired target to chase 338 during first ODI played at Malahide, Dublin on Thursday.
All-rounder Imad Wasim shattered batting line-up of Ireland by grabbing five wickets followed by early three wickets of Umar Gul who returned to the ODI cricket after a long delay.
Highest scorer from Ireland side was Gary Wilson with 21 runs followed by 14 runs by Andy McBrine while skipper William Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien scored 13 and 10 runs respectively.
Pakistan’s target:
Green Shirts set handsome target of 338-run against Ireland with loss of six wickets during first ODI being played at Malahide, Dublin here on Thursday.
Opening batsman Sharjeel Khan smashed 152 off 86 balls including nine 6s and sixteen 4s in the match, whereas, skipper Azhar Ali failed to stay on crease for long as he went back to pavilion after scoring just 1 run off 12 balls.
Shoaib Malik was second top scoring batsman with not out 57 runs while Mohammad Nawaz scored 53. Mohammad Hafeez and Babar Azam scored 37 and 29 runs respectively.
Barry McCarthy grabbed four wickets while Tim Murtagh and Peter Chase got one wicket each.
Toss:
Ireland captain William Porterfield won the toss in the first one-day international against Pakistan in Malahide on Thursday and elected to field.
Rain, which led to a wet outfield, had reduced the match to a 47 overs per side contest from the scheduled 50.
Ireland made just one change to the team that won the last ODI against Afghanistan last month to tie the series at 2-2, with the experienced Niall O’Brien returning from injury to replace Sean Terry.
Pakistan included two debutants in spin-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz and seamer Hasan Ali, in a side captained by Azhar Ali, their limited overs skipper.
There is also a return to ODI side for the first time in 16 months for the experienced Umar Gul. But paceman Wahab Riaz and leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who both featured in the recent 2-2 drawn Test series against England, were omitted.
This is the first of a two-match series, with the teams set to return to Malahide, near Dublin, on Saturday ahead of Pakistan’s five-match ODI campaign in England.
Teams:
Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Ed Joyce, John Anderson, Niall O’Brien (wkt), Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Tim Murtagh, Peter Chase
Pakistan: Azhar Ali (capt), Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed (wkt), Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul
Umpires: Simon Fry (AUS), Mark Hawthorne (IRL)
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
