Afghanistan slipped to 14-4 in four overs after electing to bat first. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (3), Ibrahim Zadran (5), Mohammad Ishaq (0) and Azmatullah Omarzai (0) were the batters dismissed. Then, in a period of consolidation, Mohammad Nabi put up a 79-run stand with opener Sediqullah Atal. The partnership ended when Curtis Campher pulled off a brilliant run out. Running from his bowling follow-through to pick the ball up from point, he threw in to the wicketkeeper’s end to cut short Atal’s innings for 35 off 32.

Nabi’s counterattacking 59 provided impetus to the Afghanistan innings. His 38-ball blitz produced six fours and three sixes. He came in to bat at No.6 and punched his fourth ball for four to get off the mark. Atal was run out in the 14th over, but that didn’t stop Nabi. He hit Campher for four in the same over before clobbering Ben White for four and six off consecutive deliveries in the 15th. Rashid Khan’s late fireworks comprising 25 off 12 deliveries, which also included his trademark no-look six, took Afghanistan to 152-9.

In reply, Ireland got off to a steady start before Nangeyalia Kharote broke the opening stand to give the hosts their first breakthrough.

With Ireland sitting comfortably at 68-1 halfway into the ninth over, Rashid struck twice off consecutive balls. While Lorcan Tucker was caught at short fine leg trying to paddle sweep him, Harry Tector was bowled by a googly for a duck. Later in the innings, he picked up two more wickets to finish with 4-14. Afghanistan won the game by 10 runs to level the three-match series with one to play.

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