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Rashid Khan (Player of the Match): [on his innings] "Haven't batted in the middle for long. Today I had the best opportunity where I could win the game for my team.

[on Hoey] He bowled with much control, that's why he was more effective and got those wickets."

Most Player of the Match Awards for Afghanistan Across Formats:

21 - Mohammad Nabi

20 - Rashid Khan*

16 - Mohammad Shahzad

Paul Stirling (Ireland Captain): [on the total] The take from both games is getting into positions where we just need to elongate and make the best and the most of those positions. Today after 10 overs after the batting powerplay, we were way ahead of the game. It was a tricky wicket that was doing plenty for the seamers and then we knew it was going to spin as well with the softness of the wicket. 220 or 230 could well have been enough today.

[on the Moondra-Hoey partnership] Delighted with the fight that they've shown. That tends to be the way in Ireland. Wickets are tough when you put in at the start. Certainly we weren't expecting one that nipped, stopped and spun. That's how it goes, the ball gets older and they made it look as if they were top order batters. Heavy roller played a big part in the game, they put it on for 20 minutes at the break. The first 10 ovres in our innings they had the better of conditions so that period was a big shift.

[on Hoey] He's been selected to do exactly that. He's a really attacking threat. To be able to bowl with that control as a wrist spinner is an unbelievable effort to start with. But also the fields that he bowled with today - 2 slips, 7-2 fields. To have that control at such an age, he's only going to get better and better.

[on what happens next] You've got to keep getting better. I don't think it's the whole package. We're trying to make sure that we can play 100 overs and that's how you win these games. If you can put together a whole game. At the minute we are putting blocks together and we'll see improvements over the months as we go but trying to get that into the next game in 2 days time will be the tricky part."

Rahmat Shah (Afghanistan Captain): "[On the close win] It was a low scoring match. Always tough. Luckily, we won the match.

[On the bowling performance] I gave them the plans according to the field and the situation. They read the plans very well. I felt Yamin, Rashid and Ghazanfar bowled really well. They bowled to their field and assessed the conditions well.

[Was he nervous at the backend?] Of course I was a bit nervous. Low scoring matches are tough and finally we won it.

[Learnings he will take forward from this game] I think the 9th wicket partnership; Ireland did very well. We will try to break a partnership like this early next time around if we have the opportunity. We shall try our best."

Afghanistan will be extremely happy with securing a 2-0 series lead. They cannot lose the series now with only 2 games left to played. However, at the back of their minds they surely will feel that they unnecessarily made the match tough for themselves. They shall work on being a lot more clinical next time around. Ireland will try to win the last two games and make sure they draw the series at 2-2 to make the home crowd happy. For them the main challenge is Rashid Khan with bat and ball. Can they formulate a better plan for him?

On this note, I, Manan Mehta would like to take your leave on behalf of my colleagues Ninaad Dixit, Sachin Yadav and Aman. See you!