Ghana international Mohammed Kudus was on target as Ajax claimed a 3-1 pre-season friendly victory against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

Ukrainian Mykhaylo Mudryk put the Russian side ahead in the 33rd minute at Amsterdam Arena before Dusan Tadic levelled matters for Ajax in the 45th minute for a 1-1 draw at the half-time break.

Steven Berghuis made it 2-1 in favour of Ajax in the 75th minute before the 21-year-old Black Star came off the bench to seal the win with a beautifully taken strike in the 85th minute.

Despite Ajax dominating the opening exchanges, it was Donetsk, who took a shock lead when Taras Stepanenko put through Mudryk, and the player reacted quickly to sneak the ball past Remko Pasveer.

Ajax then continued to attack and they were rewarded at the stroke of the half-time whistle when Brazilian Antony laid a cross to Tadic, who hit the ball with his right-foot past Anatoliy Trubin.

On resumption, Ajax doubled their lead when Berghuis took advantage of a defensive mix-up to find the back of the net.

Kudus was then introduced by manager Alfred Schreuder in the 66th minute for Steven Bergwijn, and he shook the net five minutes to the final whistle after fastening onto a cross from Brian Brobbey.

The Black Star has now scored three goals in pre-season. His first came in the 1-1 draw against Eupen at De Toekomst while his second was in the 3-2 victory against RB Salzburg at SaalfeldenArena.

Meanwhile, Nigeria defender Calvin Bassey missed out on his debut for Ajax in the friendly. Bassey recently sealed a record transfer move to the Dutch side from Scottish giants Rangers.

Ajax will next face PSV Eindhoven in the Johan Cruyff Shield final at Amsterdam Arena on Saturday.