Veteran star Mohammad Nabi came to the fore for Afghanistan on Tuesday (March 12) and put up a sensational bowling spell to help his side hammer Ireland by 117 runs in the third ODI and clinch the three-match series 2-0.
Nabi bagged a match-winning five-wicket haul (5/17) to dismantle Ireland for just 119 and helped his side pick up a resounding win.
Nangeyalia Kharote, a teenage slow left-arm orthodox bowler, also impressed on his international debut and picked up a four-for to demolish the Irish batting order.
Ireland needed to score 237 runs to win the third ODI and square the series 1-1. However, their batting order crumbled under the pressure of the run chase and folded without putting up much of a fight at the end.
Barring their skipper Paul Stirling (50 off 53 balls) and Curtis Campher 43 off 63 balls, none of the other Irish players could even manage to reach the double digits.
Nabi won the Player of the Match (POTM) award for his fine bowling spell.
Earlier in the day, Ireland won the toss and elected to field first in a must-win game for them. However, their bowlers couldn't prevent the two Afghan openers from providing a brisk start to their side.
Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz added 62 runs for the opening wicket before Zadran got out to Barry McCarthy at an individual score of 22.
Gurbaz kicked on and scored a fifty with the help of seven fours and a maximum. Ireland made a sound comeback into the contest as they reduced Afghanistan from 62/1 to 96/4, courtsey of some disciplined bowling.
However, a 97-run stand for the fifth wicket between Nabi (48 runs of 62 balls) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (69 runs off 103 balls) rescued Afghanistan from an initial slump and propelled them to a respectable total of 236 which proved enough in the end.
