Rashid Khan’s 6 for 34 gives Rahmat Shah a win in his first match as captain
Afghanistan’s new captain had to sit through a washout before he got a game in charge. He got a 92-run win, and six wickets from the best bowler he has.
Aug 8, 2026
Ireland needed 148 from the last 21 overs at Bready on Friday with five wickets standing. Awkward, not gone. Then Rashid Khan came back for his second spell, the last four wickets fell for nine runs, and Afghanistan won the second one-day international by 92. Rahmat Shah has a win in his first match as captain.
A 47-over game, and 299 on the board
Rain cut the match to 47 overs a side before the start, and Paul Stirling put Afghanistan in. They made 299 for 8 at better than six an over.
Ibrahim Zadran held it together with 84 from 97 balls, his fifty coming off 52. His second-wicket stand with Sediqullah Atal was worth 116 and gave the innings its spine. Atal made 45, Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit 32 from 30 at the top, and Rahmat Shah chipped in 30 on the day he finally led the side. The finish belonged to Hashmatullah Shahidi, who handed over the captaincy last month and answered with 36 not out from 21 balls, three fours and a six in it.
Mark Adair was the pick of the Ireland bowlers with 2 for 40 from his ten. Jai Moondra, one of three debutants, took two but went for 78.
Rashid’s 7.4 overs
Rashid finished with 6 for 34, and the shape of the spell matters as much as the number. He had Andy Balbirnie caught behind in the 15th over and Harry Tector the same way in the 17th, which took the middle out of the chase. Then he came back at the death and took the last three wickets. Ireland went from 198 for 6 to 207 all out in a little over four overs.
Indian crowds have watched this act for a decade. Rashid has been an IPL fixture since 2017, first at Sunrisers Hyderabad and now Gujarat Titans, and he was doing the same thing in England five days ago, taking 5 for 17 against Manchester Super Giants in the Hundred. His middle-overs wickets are the ones people remember, but the damage usually lands later, when a big total buys him a second spell at an exposed tail.
Carmichael’s fifty, and two wickets in two overs
Ireland were not badly placed for a long stretch. Stirling went in the fifth over, but Balbirnie and Cade Carmichael added 72 for the second wicket, and Carmichael reached his first ODI fifty from 44 balls. He finished with 62 from 66.
What broke Ireland was the passage either side of the halfway mark. Lorcan Tucker was run out for 23 after a mix-up in the 25th over, and Carmichael fell in the next over. Two set batters gone inside two overs, with Rashid holding overs back, is not a position Ireland were going to talk their way out of. Ben Calitz and Curtis Campher counter-attacked for 46 in under four overs and only made the margin look kinder.
Three left, and a qualifier waiting
Afghanistan lead the five-match series 1-0 after Wednesday’s opener at Bready was abandoned without a ball bowled. The third one-day international is at Stormont in Belfast on Monday, with the last two there as well.
For Ireland this is more than a bad Friday. Ranked 12th, they missed automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup and now have to come through a ten-team Qualifier to get there. Bready showed the exact flaw that will decide it: a top order that survives the powerplay, then loses three or four in a clatter as soon as the spin comes on. Every side in that Qualifier will have someone who bowls it.