Thanks to their international hero, Rashid Khan, Afghanistan won a thrilling encounter to guarantee their place in the 2027 ODI World Cup in Southern Africa, capping a battle that swung wildly from one team to the other.
Ireland was more than capable of defending 206 at 176 for 7. Rashid, however, persevered and scored 37 of the most crucial runs to help his team win. Earlier in the afternoon, Rashid’s batting efforts complemented his usually aggressive legspin performance, which took him 3 for 44 and turned the tables on Ireland along with mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar.
In the five-match series, Ireland mounted a valiant resistance after falling behind 1-0. Gavin Hoey bowled a fantastic legspin performance from 97 for 2. He used his flight to lull batters, his dip and fast turn to bother them, and all of a sudden he was in a position to deliver a knockout blow.
The game was opened by his 4 for 34 in the middle overs, which included the valuable scalp of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 71. Seamer Mark Adair, who continued to profit from minute deviations off the deck throughout the evening, was a great compliment to him at the other end. However, once Hoey was bowled out by the 33rd over, Ireland eventually ran out of steam since they had to go all out.
Jai Moondra and Hoey’s record ninth-wicket stand was the reason Ireland made a fist of this. After Ireland was in ruins at 128 for 8 at sea against the turning ball in conditions that were anything but hazardous, the pair added 76 for the ninth wicket. In just his second ODI innings, Moondra produced 31 adventurous runs, while Hoey led the board with 36. During their partnership, he demonstrated exceptional game awareness and footwork to neutralise the Afghan spin threat, making him the more daring of the two.
After hitting a full toss first up, Moondra went on to hit four more boundaries before nicking behind to Gurbaz to take the second wicket of comeback man Yamin Ahmadzai, who was playing his first ODI since 2022. When Hoey attempted a booming hit down the ground against Azmatullah Omarzai in the 47th over, the innings came to a close. By then, Rashid and Ghazanfar had combined figures of 6 for 73 after tearing thru the top order to take off Ben Calitz, Lorcan Tucker, and Curtis Campher.
Gurbaz feasted on whatever pitched up, taking the attack to the fast bowlers throughout the chase. In conditions designed specifically for the quicks in Belfast, he was especially aggressive versus Moondra, the left-arm seamer, who was unable to extract the same movement as Adair.
After heaving over deep midwicket to reach his ninth ODI fifty, Gurbaz had to settle down after taking a few fast wickets. Rahmat Shah, the skipper, was bowled by a brilliant nip backer from Adair that beat the inside edge to clip top of off after Sediqullah Atal pulled a flighted delivery from Hoey to long-on for 27.
Inspired by the Afghan spinners, Hoey bowled mostly stump-to-stump and varied his pace. Nevertheless, Darwish Rasooli lost patience and swiped over the line to toe end one to midwicket, leaving Afghanistan 154 for 6, while Hashmatullah Shahidi pulled a half-tracker straight to Moondra at deep square.
Then, until Afghanistan was within 15 runs of victory, Rashid stood firm and played a calm but assured innings, fighting the impulse to strike out.
Throughout the innings, there were further instances of brain fade. Omarzai was caught at cover after attempting a lofted hit, leaving Ireland daydreaming of an improbable theft. Then, using his wristy whip, he reduced the target to single figures. He appropriately struck the winning runs, a brace off Harry Tector in the 45th, to start wild celebrations.
Afghanistan qualified for a fourth consecutive World Cup thanks in large part to Ahmadzai, who faced 26 balls for his 4 not out.
