Ireland, Afghanistan eye positive beginning to T20 WC preparations

Overview

Afghanistan v Ireland, 1st T20I
Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, Greater Noida
Friday, 06 March; 02.00pm local, 08.30am GMT

Afghanistan batsmen have relished the Ireland attack, especially in Indian conditions, scoring in excess of 200 in three of the last four outings in Greater Noida. Their all-round attack, led by the experience of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, who are ranked No.1 on the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Rankings for bowlers and all-rounders respectively, and the promising medium pacers in Karim Janat and Naveen-ul-Haq rounds off a formidable bowling outfit.

That they have been unbeaten in each of their last five bilateral series further reinstates their T20I prowess. Their key player though would be left-handed opener Hazratullah Zazai, who has scored 360 runs against Ireland at a staggering strike-rate of 209.30, including a memorable 162* last year.

Afghanistan's middle-order did fail collectively against West Indies in their last international assignment in November last year, but that could be attributed to the slow nature of the Lucknow wicket. They have a chance to set that right in the series, with the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 less than eight months away.

Ireland on the other hand, will miss services of the experienced Gary Wilson and regular coach Graham Ford; Wilson has been sidelined with illness, while Ford suffered a freak slip incident last week, which resulted in four broken bones. That does dent visitors significantly on the experience front, but the quality of the established internationals in Kevin O'Brien and Paul Stirling can't be undermined.

They would, however, still sweat on their bowling resources, who failed collectively in the away series against West Indies in January. That leaves a lot of responsibility on the experienced Boyd Rankin and George Dockrell to deliver the goods.

Remember the last time

Ireland were undone by Mohammad Nabi's brilliance as his 36-ball 81 powered Afghanistan to a daunting 210/7 after being put in to bat in the third and final game of the series. Ireland lost Paul Stirling early in the chase, but Kevin O'Brien (74) and Balbirnie (47) kept them in hunt with a steady 96-run stand.

Ziaur Rahman gave them the breakthrough, castling Balbirnie in the 14th over, before Rashid Khan ran through the middle order with a hattrick, and eventually finished with returns of 5/27 to help his side a comfortable 32-run win.

Conditions

There are high chances of rain on Friday which might result in a shortened game. The venue has been largely favourable to the batters with teams batting first registering scores of 165/5, 184/8 and 233/8 respectively in the three games played here.