The Afghan National Cricket team beat Ireland in the ICC Intercontinental Cup on Thursday by an innings and 172 runs at Greater Noida in India.

Following this win, Afghanistan is top of the table after the national team’s bowlers produced a superb performance on day 3 to beat Ireland.

Buoyed by its success in the recent limited-overs series, Afghanistan was eyeing victory in the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland as the four-day fixture was crucial for both teams as they inch closer to their dream of playing Test cricket.

According to the ICC, this contest could all but decide which side wins the Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 to play the bottom-ranked Test team in the ICC Test Challenge in 2018.

The team that wins the challenge, could acquire Test status.

With Thursday’s win, Afghanistan is now leading the ICC Intercontinental Cup with 81 points and Ireland is second with 80 points.

Afghanistan will play Hong Kong and UAE later this year, and if Afghanistan wins both those matches than the national cricket team go on to play the lowest-ranked full-member team in test matches – which is currently Zimbabwe.