The Afghanistan national cricket team were in the mood of breaking records in the second T20 international match against Ireland in their second home ground in Dehradun. Hapless Ireland just could not live up to the level of cricket on display by the Asian team with their bowlers being taken for plenty. It is yet another statement by the Afghanistan team about the vast improvement in their standards in the past few years. A number of records were toppled in their innings as they posted a massive 278 runs in their allocated quota of twenty overs. AFG beat IRE by 84 runs | Afghanistan vs Ireland Live Cricket Score 2nd I T20 Match Highlights.

The 278 runs scored by Afghanistan in the T20 game in Dehradun is a record in this format of the game surpassing the previous best of 263-3 by the Australians against Sri Lanka in 2016. A total of 22 sixes were hit by the Afghans who showed no mercy against the Irish bowlers and they completely wilted under pressure. One person who was in the mood for some clean hitting was opener Hazratullah Zazai who blasted a swashbuckling 162 runs of 62 balls.

He along with fellow opening batsman Usman Ghani put up a partnership of 236 runs which is a record for the highest opening stand in T20 cricket as well as the highest T20 partnership. Ghani scored a 48 ball 73 to provide the idle platform for Zazai to showcase his pyro techniques with the bat. Their partnership bettered the previous best by Darcy Short and Aaron Finch which stood at 223 runs.

Hazratullah Zazai remained unbeaten on 162 runs which is the second highest T20 score by a batsman and his century of 42 balls was a third fastest ton in the shortest format of the game. Throughout his innings, he loved taking the aerial route, and his 16 sixes is a new world record.

List of Records Made During Afghanistan vs Ireland 2nd Twenty20 Tie

The world of cricket applauded the effort by these Afghani batsmen who showed tremendous skill with the bat. But things could have panned out differently for Ireland had they not dropped Hazratullah Zazai on 72 with George Dockrell, the guilty party. Mohammad Nabi who came in at no four too smashed a brilliant 17 runs off 5 balls to help his side reach 278-3.

With this carnage, the Afghanistan team have done enough to win the series with a game to spare. The quality on display is a reminder to the rest of the world that they are slowly becoming a force to reckon with.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2019 10:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).