Dominant Afghanistan eye return to winning ways

Overview

Afghanistan v Ireland
4th ODI
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun
Tuesday, 5 March, 2:00pm local time, 8:30am GMT

Five games into the tour, Ireland hadn't won a single match, swept 3-0 in the Twenty20 International series, and losing the first ODI before the second game was washed out. They were finally able to pull one over Afghanistan with an Andy Balbirnie-inspired victory in the third match.

Ireland's recent record against Afghanistan isn't impressive. They have won the odd game, but those wins haven't often come in succession. In the last 24 months, Ireland have won just six matches across both white-ball formats while losing 16.

In that period, only twice have they been able to win more than one game on the trot. They have a chance to reverse that trend in Dehradun on Friday, 8 March.

Ireland's batting through the series has appeared a touch frail. Consistency has eluded majority of the batsmen, but they will draw inspiration from the stellar 136-ball 145 not out that Balbirnie scored to keep their chances of a series win alive.

It was a truly impressive knock on a pitch that was wearing a bit. Balbirnie showed good skill in tackling the threat of spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman. Balbirnie's efforts were complemented by George Dockrell, who justified his promotion to No. 6 with a composed 54 in an important 143-run stand.

As for the bowling, Ireland have enjoyed good starts in almost all the games in the series, but have failed to capitalise as one or the other Afghanistan batsman has stepped up to post a big score. In the previous game, that honour belonged to Najibullah Zadran, whose unbeaten 104 helped Afghanistan recover from 74/5.

Ireland will need to fix their death bowling, which is the phase when Afghanistan tend to really hurt them. One positive for them, though, is that Dockrell was very economical. His form with the ball hasn't dipped in recent times even as his batting skills have improved, and he looked threatening in the previous game.

As for Afghanistan, their bowling has been quite excellent, but it is from the batsmen that they will expect more consistency. The top-order needs to produce more steady starts to reduce the pressure on the middle order.

That will be key as Afghanistan try to prove that the defeat in the third ODI was an aberration and aim to return to their winning ways.

Key players

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan): The wily leg-spinner wasn't able to have much of an impact in the previous game and will be eager to return to his best. In this series, Khan hasn't really done justice to his batting abilities, and that is something he would like to set right should the opportunity arise. If he does come good in both departments, things will suddenly become a lot more difficult for Ireland.

Andy Balbirnie (Ireland): Named Player of the Match in the previous game, Balbirnie will take a lot of confidence from that monumental effort. It was his third ODI hundred. A lot of Aghanistan's success in ODIs has come through their bowlers, and if Balbirnie can thwart them the way he did, it will be a big boost for his team.

Conditions

There is some rain forecast for Friday afternoon, but things look significantly more promising in the later part of the day. The pitch at Dehradun has been a touch slow, but there are runs in it once batsmen get their eye in.

Squads

Afghanistan: Asghar Afghan(c), Mohammad Shahzad, Noor Ali Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Dawlat Zadran, Zahir Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Shapoor Zadran, Sayed Shirzad, Fareed Malik

Ireland: William Porterfield(c), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, James Cameron-Dow, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Tim Murtagh, James McCollum, Kevin O Brien, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker