IRE VS PAK - Only Test, Pakistan tour of Ireland, 2018

For Pakistan, the debutants - Faheem Ashraf and Imam-ul-Haq played a vital role in the match. Abbas picked nine wickets in the Test and Amir looks in good shape. However, Pakistan's top order still looks unsettled and their catching has to improve. They go to England for a 2-Test series next. Ireland, on the other hand, will have to wait for a long time before they play their next Test. They will be locking horns with India in a 2-match T20I series here in Dublin in June. We'll be back for all that. It was a pleasure to cover this historic Test. Hope you folks enjoyed it. Until next time, it's goodbye from Abhinand Raghavendran, Varun Dikshit and Venkatesh..

After a washout on day one, we witnessed two young Pakistani lower-order batsmen bailing their team out of trouble on day two. When the hosts were bundled out for a cheap score on day three, a one-sided affair was expected with Pakistan enforcing the follow-on for the first time in 16 years. But, Ireland, playing their first-ever Test had other plans. The fifty partnership between Joyce and Porterfield set the platform and yesterday, it was Kevin O' Brien's show, who recorded a remarkable maiden Test ton ensured that his team had something to bowl at. It was a spirited bowling performance from the Ireland in the fourth innings, but they had too little to defend.

Sarfraz Ahmed: "Batting was very difficult here, a great knock from Imam and Babar Azam. We dropped a couple of catches. They played very well especially Kevin O'Brien and also Thompson who had a good partnership. Credit to my bowlers and also the batsmen. Babar and Imam have the potential. Hopefully, they play well in the future too. We need this kind of performances. We are ready, hopefully we do well in England as well."

William Porterfield: It would have made a very interesting game, if we would have gone close to the 200 run mark. We have played some very good cricket in this game and we can take a lot out of this game. We put up a really good fight in the whole game. If we would have been able to break the partnership after lunch, we would have had a chance. The boys played really well throughout the game and I could not have asked them for anything better. From follow-on to getting ourselves in a winning position was a very good effort. We talked about just winning the next session, we lost 4 wickets in the morning yesterday and that pegged us back. Kevin played an outstanding innings and he got us out of the bad situation along with Thompson and Kane. I am looking forward to the T20 series against India, we have some very good cricket to look forward to in the summer.

Kevin O' Brien, Player of the Match: "If the morning session could have been slightly better for us then we could have pushed for a win. It was disappointing for us not to get more runs. I tried to forget about yesterday, that was probably the toughest part as there was lot of attention from the media and on twitter. I am not used to batting for five and a half hours. I played the situation, we needed to stick in and rotate the strike. I am renowned for slogging the ball but I played according to the game situation".

Both teams pose for a group photo. All smiles. An amazing moment! Presentations coming up.

Chasing a target of 160, Pakistan lost three wickets inside four overs with just 14 on the board. That's when Babar Azam joined Imam-ul-Haq and they weathered the storm and thereby settled the nerves as they went to lunch without losing any wickets. Immediately after the break, Murtagh found the outside edge of Azam, but Andrew Balbirnie put it down at slip. How costly was that? Well, Babar Azam added 50 more runs to take his team towards the victory line. Imam-ul-Haq, on debut, was calm and didn't take any undue risks. The 22-year-old, Inzamam's nephew, fittingly hit the winning runs.

15:45 Local Time, 14:45 GMT, 20:15 IST: Imam-ul-Haq removes the helmet, goes down on his feet and kisses the turf. The debutant gets hugged by his batting partner - Shadab Khan. Smiles in the Pakistan camp. Ireland can keep their heads high. They competed exceptionally well in their maiden Test. Now both teams exchange handshakes. A well-fought Test, played in the right spirit.

Tyrone Kane to Imam-ul-Haq, 2 runs, angles in a fuller length, Imam-ul-Haq looks to work it to mid-wicket and gets an inside edge to backward square leg. Comes back for the second and Pakistan win by 5 wickets

Tyrone Kane to Imam-ul-Haq, no run, very full, kept out with a block

Tyrone Kane to Shadab Khan, 1 run, a tap towards cover with soft hands. Just 2 runs needed

Tyrone Kane to Shadab Khan, no run, full and wide of off, left alone

Tyrone Kane to Shadab Khan, 2 runs, short of a good length delivery, Shadab Khan goes back in his crease and whips it through mid-wicket

Tyrone Kane to Shadab Khan, no run, full ball on middle and leg, Shadab Khan defends

S Thompson to Imam-ul-Haq, no run, slashes at a wide ball outside off. Ends up bottom-edging it, which rolls to the keeper

S Thompson to Shadab Khan, 1 run, knocks the length ball in front of mid-on for a quick single

S Thompson to Shadab Khan, no run, short of a good length delivery on middle, nudged into the leg-side

S Thompson to Imam-ul-Haq, 1 run, short of length slanted across, cut behind square on the off-side

S Thompson to Imam-ul-Haq, no run, fuller length ball on the pads, clipped to square leg

S Thompson to Imam-ul-Haq, no run, slanted across the left-hander, from a good-ish length, left alone