Mohammad Nabi’s 59 and Rashid Khan’s 4-14 helped Afghanistan level the Twenty20 series against Ireland.
Afghanistan slumped to 14-4 early on in Sharjah after Josh Little and Mark Adair both took two wickets.
But Nabi’s 38-ball innings helped the Afghans post a competitive 152-9.
Ireland looked on course to win the series as they reached 49-0 in 5.1 overs before wickets tumbled and despite late big hitting from Gareth Delany, they could only reach 142-8.
Skipper Paul Stirling was bowled by Nangeyalia Kharote and while Ireland rallied to reach 68-1, Rashid dismissed Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector in successive balls to turn the contest in Afghanistan’s favour.
Nabi then caught and bowled Curtis Campher before Kharote crucially trapped Andrew Balbirnie lbw after the Ireland Test skipper had reached 45.
The Irish looked set for a heavy defeat as franchise star Rashid bowled George Dockrell and Mark Adair to leave them on 95-7 but Delany produced late resistance as he hit four sixes in an 18-ball 39 before departing off a Fazalhaq Farooqi delivery, with Sediqullah Atal taking the catch.
Nabi’s inning included three sixes and six fours, with Atal (35) and Rashid (25) also making vital contributions with the bat after Little and Adair had ripped through Afghanistan’s top order.
Little bowled Rahmanullah Gurbaz to leave the Afghans on 6-1 with Adair dismissing Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Ishaq in successive balls before Azmatullah Omarzai was out for a duck off another Little delivery.
However, Nabi and Atal steadied the Afghanistan innings with a vital 79-run partnership.
The series decider will take place in Sharjah on Monday, which will round off three weeks of action between the counties, Ireland having won the one-off Test in Abu Dhabi before the Afghans clinched a 2-0 victory in a one-day series where one of the games had to be abandoned because of rain.
Ireland earned a 38-run victory in the T20 series opener on Friday when Tector hit 56 and Ben White took four Afghanistan wickets.
