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Match Report:

Scorecard

Rashid five puts Afghans on top

Rahmat Shah falls agonisingly short of maiden hundred but Afghanistan move into strong position on day two

Spinner Rashid Khan claimed five wickets to put Afghanistan in sight of their maiden Test victory after bowling out Ireland for 288 on day three of the one-off game on Sunday.

Chasing 147 to win, Afghanistan were 1-29 at stumps. Ihsanullah Janat, on 16, and Rahmat Shah, on 11, were batting at close of play in Dehradun.

Spinner Andy McBrine had opener Mohammad Shahzad caught behind for two before Janat and Shah, who made 98 in Afghanistan's first innings total of 314, played out the last few overs of the day.

Ireland batsmen Andy Balbirnie and Kevin O'Brien had earlier hit half-centuries before Rashid returned career-best figures of 5-82 to bowl out Ireland in the final session of play.

"Feeling happy to get some wickets for the team when the team needed me," said Rashid, who has taken seven wickets in the match.

"It was tough to grip the new ball because I had the finger injury. With the new ball it was difficult for me to pitch it on the right length because it was paining a lot," he said, referring to the injured middle finger of his bowling arm.

"It was tough to grip the new ball because I had the finger injury. With the new ball it was difficult for me to pitch it on the right length because it was paining a lot,

"Once the ball gets older and the seam has gone so it was more comfortable for me to bowl than the new ball.

"There was something for the spinners after lunch. I think we took advantage of that and bowled in good-length areas and got the results.

"It was tough to bowl (before lunch) because the new ball was quite difficult to grip but I just tried my best. You have to do for the team, you have to do for the country.

"Whether you are doing well or not doing well, you have to stand up and give 100 per cent for the team. That's what I was trying.

"To deliver as much as possible and as good as I can. I shouldn't have any excuse with a finger injury, these are related with sportsmen and I accepted that."

Balbirnie made 82 and O'Brien 56 before a 10th-wicket 58-run partnership between James Cameron-Dow and Tim Murtagh set up a potentially tricky chase for the Afghans.

Cameron-Dow was left unbeaten on 32 after No.11 batter Murtagh, who hit 54 not out in Ireland's first innings score of 172, was the last man out on 27.

It made Ireland just the second nation to ever have the 10th wicket partnership put on more than 50 in both innings of a Test match, behind Australia. The Aussies have achieved the feat three times, in 1895, 1925 and most recently in 2013. 

That occasion saw Ashton Agar hit a memorable 98 on debut in a final-wicket stand of 163 with the late Phillip Hughes, while in the second innings James Pattinson and Brad Haddin put on 65 runs for the final wicket as the Aussies fell to a 14-run defeat at Trent Bridge in the opening Test of that winter's Ashes.

"I am not surprised, if you have seen Test cricket even tailenders have records," said Rashid of Ireland's achievement.

"Plan was to bowl as many good deliveries as possible. But they chose the right deliveries to score and that's how they made runs."

Earlier Balbirnie put on 104 runs for the third wicket with James McCollum, who made 39, to frustrate the Afghanistan bowlers in the first session.

An umpiring howler cost Ireland their first wicket of the day with Paul Stirling adjudged lbw off paceman Yamin Ahmadzai for 14 after the opener got a thick edge onto his pad.

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Balbirnie, who resumed the day on 14, stood firm to register his maiden Test half-century with a boundary off Mohammad Nabi.

Ireland took lunch at 2-124 but a batting collapse in the second session saw them slip to 6-157, with Rashid and Waqar Salamkheil sharing the spoils.

Balbirnie was caught behind off Salamkheil after his 149-ball stay at the wicket, and Rashid trapped McCollum lbw in the very next over as Afghanistan regained control.

"It ebbed and flowed. We had a good first session and we could have batted for a good part of the day and build a substantial lead," said Balbirnie.

"So from my point of view it was really frustrating, because I was a set batsman and it was a lapse of concentration (my dismissal). But the 10th wicket partnership gives us a fight."

Rashid creates history against Ireland

O'Brien, who took Ireland past their 142-run deficit and into a lead, then put on 63 runs with George Dockrell, who made 25, to take the attack to the opposition bowlers.

But Rashid got the two dangermen back in the pavilion after tea to get into the Ireland tail that once again wagged.

The left-handed batting duo of Cameron-Dow and Murtagh put on another defiant stand for Ireland, who had posted an 87-run last-wicket partnership in their first innings.

Both sides are playing their second Test after making their debuts in the five-day format last year.

Afghanistan lost to India inside two days in Bangalore while Ireland went down to Pakistan in Dublin.