Ireland lost the final One Day International at Stormont in Belfast after an abject batting display mixed by some dubious umpiring decisions gave Afghanistan an eight-wicket victory and the Gulbahar Cup on a two-one margin.
Ireland captain William Porterfield won the toss and decided to bat on a sunny morning at the Civil Service ground in Belfast but lost opener Paul Stirling in only the second over for 2 - caught behind off the bowling of medium pacer Aftab Alam.
Porterfield and the in-form Andy Balbirnie seemed to have steadied the ship for Ireland, taking the score to 34, before the skipper perished. He fell to a bizzare catch by Afghan captain Asghar Afghan, who took three attempts at catching the ball before eventually clinging on
After Porterfield's dismissal, wickets fell at regular intervals as Ireland's batting collapsed.
Only Gary Wilson (23) showed any real intent and in the end, the dismissal of Boyd Rankin, caught in the deep, ended Ireland's innings on 124 all out.
19-year-old Rashid Kahn did the real damage for the visitors, taking 3 for 13 in a destructive 13 overs as five of Ireland's batsmen fell LBW, three of those to the number one bowler in the world at the moment.
Afghanistan had complained bitterly about some of the umpiring decisions in the series and the likes of Niall O’Brien and Simi Singh will consider themselves unlucky to have been given out today.
In reply, Ireland had early success when Afghan opener Shazad perished on one off the bowling of Boyd Rankin, caught in the deep by Tim Murtagh.
Just before lunch, Murtagh took his ninth wicket of the series, getting rid of the dangerous Rahmat Shah for 33 with Afghanistan then on 53 for 2.
However opener Ihsanullah Janat (57 N/O) with his highest individual one-day score and Hashmatullah Shahidi (34 N/0)took Afghanistan safely through to the close - they reached 127 for 2 in the 24th over to complete a comprehensive eight-wicket victory.
Rashid Khan became the number one rated International bowler for 2018 during the ODIs in Belfast and won the player of the series award for his eight wickets in the three matches.
