Afghanistan 343 for 9 (Atal 143, Ibrahim Zadran 107, McDonough 3-84, Hoey 2-71) beat Ireland 301 (Balbirnie 109, Campher 84, Ahmadzai 4-71, Rashid 3-49) by 42 runs

Ireland had the ideal start as they removed in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the top-scorer from Monday’s thriller, in just the second over. But all the joy dissipated quickly as Atal and Zadran sent them on a leather hunt for a better part of the innings, the pair put on 231, the highest-ever second-wicket stand for Afghanistan in ODIs. Along the way, they eclipsed a 16-year record held by Karin Sadiq and Mohammad Shahzad, who put on 218 against Scotland.

Zadran played copy book cricket for much of his knock, relying on strike rotation. Atal was the more enterprising, using his feet regularly to hit down town against legspinner Gavin Hoey. It seemed like a deliberate plan to throw Gavin Hoey off his lengths to prevent him from dictating terms, as he had in the previous game with a four-for.

Zadran got to his half-century off 56 balls, before picking up the pace. The next fifty came only a tad quicker – off 51 – as Zadran raised his seventh ODI century, proving to be rock solid and technically adept at countering steep bounce from the tall Byron McDonough and Liam McCarthy, who replaced left-arm seamer Jai Moondra.

Atal marked his 25th birthday with a century, showing great presence of mind in the middle overs with his ability to pick boundaries regularly, especially against spin at the slightest sign of the innings slipping into autopilot. He kept injecting fresh energy to put the pressure right back on the bowlers. At one point, it seemed like Atal was well on his way to 150 and beyond, until a miscued slog down to long-on cut his innings short on 143. By then, he’d hit 17 fours and four sixes.

The problem with that strategy was it didn’t account for Rashid’s threat through the middle overs. Even though two of his three wickets came towards the end of his spell, Rashid was accurate and kept the pressure up. Stirling fell in the 11th over at the first sign of spin as mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar trapped him lbw. Cade Carmichael followed suit.

Harry Tector then put on 76 for the third wicket with Balbirnie, but once Tector holed out to deep backward square, the innings completely derailed as the asking rate mounted. Ireland were never in it, and their troubles were exacerbated further with Rashid returning to remove centurion Balbirnie and Ben Calitz off consecutive deliveries..