'There is still that rivalry' – Gary Wilson is ready for Afghanistan

India comprehensively outplayed Ireland in their two-match series earlier this year in Malahide, even bundling out the home side for 70 in the second match.

However, at the time too, Wilson had maintained that a loss against No.2-ranked side in Twenty20 Internationals wasn’t a real measure of Ireland’s abilities. “They (Afghanistan) are obviously a good side, but I did say at the time of the India (series) that this would be a better gauge of where we’re at,” he said on the eve of the first T20I against Afghanistan.

“Those India games were great, and it’s fantastic for Cricket Ireland to put us on the map and stuff. We didn’t do ourselves justice, no doubt about that, we didn’t play well enough in either game, especially in the second game. We’re looking forward to hopefully putting that right.”

To that end, and with an eye on building a squad to qualify for the ICC World T20 2020, Ireland have opted for a squad with a generous sprinkling of youngsters, including 20-year-old uncapped medium pacer David Delany and Joshua Little, the 18-year-old who debuted recently.

“Made a couple of changes in the squad, and it’s good to see people like David Delany and Josh Little get their opportunity,” said Wilson. “We feel like we’ve selected a squad that, looking down the line to the qualifiers, we’re trying to identify guys (for that).

“It’s obviously not going to be the 14 that are here – it’ll be 15, 16, 17 players that we think are going to be able to take us forward. We want to give the guys we believe are going to (help us) qualify for that 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia the most opportunity, and gain exposure at this level.”

That said, it’s not a case of exposure taking priority over results. Wilson said his side were particularly intent on coming good against Afghanistan, given they lost all their last five T20Is against them.

“We’re playing Afghanistan at home, there’s good rivalry between the countries,” he said. “The series we played against them recently have been close, albeit not in T20 cricket, and there is still that rivalry there. Any time you play for Ireland, and especially against Afghanistan in your own conditions, you want to win the series.”

For that, however, they will need to deal with Afghanistan’s twin spin threats – Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. And Wilson believed the conditions, however non-conducive to spin, wouldn’t deter them.

“If the wicket isn’t spinning as much, obviously (it’ll be easier against them). We hope it doesn’t,” he said. “Playing them in Sharjah or Noida, where the ball is spinning pretty excessively in both directions, it becomes quite difficult.

“They’re still good bowlers, though, whether it spins or not. Rashid is the No.1 T20I bowler in the world, he doesn’t have to rely on spin for that. He plays in the BBL, the T20 Blast in England, and those are two places where it’s not necessary to spin the ball.

“He’s obviously a fine bowler. The good thing is, we’ve had a look at him, and played against him a lot.”