Ireland vs Afghanistan 1st T20i Match Preview:-
Match: IRE vs AFG T20i Match Prediction
Time: 09 Aug, 08:00 PM (IST)
Series: 1st T20i Match
Venue: Civil Service Cricket Club – Belfast
Info:
Since December last year, Lorcan Tucker has hit three half-centuries in this format and he scored 78 runs at a strike-rate of 205.26 against South Africa earlier this month. He is well worth backing as Ireland’s highest run scorer on Tuesday. With the ball, Josh Little can be expensive but very rarely goes wicketless. He is a strong choice for Ireland’s top wicket taker in this game.
Hazratullah Zazai has a healthy average of 35.30 in IT20s and scored his only century in this format on his last trip to Ireland. The opener is our tip for Afghanistan’s highest run scorer in this match. Rashid Khan has 109 wickets at an average of 13.00 in IT20s and the leg-spinner is our pick for Afghanistan’s top wicket taker against Ireland.
The Irish batters have struggled to get on top of talented bowling attacks throughout this summer and we expect Rashid Khan to also be too skillful for them. He is our prediction for the Player of the Match Award.
Live Streaming:
TV channels: The live TV coverage is yet to be announced.
Live Streaming: Fans can stream the match on Fancode in India.
Weather & Pitch Report:
⛅ Weather:
22 degrees from start to finish of this game. Partly cloudy but no chance of rain interruptions.
🏟️ Pitch:
There will be some turn on offer from the wicket but we expect pace bowlers to get a bit more assistance. We predict a par score to be no higher than 170.
Toss Prediction:
Ireland chose to field first in two of the three IT20s against New Zealand at this venue last month. With Ireland preferring to chase and Afghanistan’s main strength in bowling, we expect to see both teams wanting to field first.
Recent Form:
IRE:
L, L, L, L, L
❌ ❌❌❌ ❌
AFG:
W, W, W, W, L
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌
Team News:
IRE Team News:
Although Ireland are going through a wretched run of results in this format, the team management have made it clear that the group of players who they selected for recent series are their best available and have selected them again. All who played in the second T20I against South Africa in Bristol are fit and available.
AFG Team News:
The visitors included spinner Rashid Khan in their squad which means that he will miss games for Trent Rockets in The Hundred to come and play in this series. As one of the world’s top spinners, that gives Afghanistan a massive boost. Afghanistan have plenty of experience in the batting department and have no injury worries.
IRE Predicted11
1.Andy Balbirnie(C)
2.Paul Stirling
3.Lorcan Tucker(WK)
4.Harry Tector
5.Gareth Delany
6.Curtis Campher
7.George Dockrell
8.Andy McBrine
9.Mark Adair
10.Barry McCarthy
11.Joshua Little
AFG Predicted11
1.R Gurbaz(WK)
2.Hazratullah Zazai
3.Darwish Rasooli
4.Hashmatullah Shahidi
5.Najibullah-Zadran
6.Mohammad Nabi(C)
7.Karim Janat
8.Azmatullah Omarzai
9.Rashid-Khan
10.Fazal Haq
11.Mujeeb-ur-Rahman
Winning Chances:
Who will win today’s match: IRE vs AFG T20i Match Fantasy Team
There will be a tendency for some cricket supporters to assume that Ireland will finally get an IT20 win in this game after successive defeats to South Africa, New Zealand and India. However, that would be a foolish assumption as Afghanistan have a strong squad with a group of players who have experience in these conditions. We are predicting a tight match but with a win for Afghanistan.
Final Verdict
Afghanistan are favourites to beat Ireland
IRE Key Players:
Paul Stirling:
With scores of 21, 40, 18 and 28 over his last four IT20s, the stocky opener is not far away from making a significant score. He always plays attacking cricket and delivers a high strike-rate.
Lorcan Tucker:
The 25 year old keeper-batter almost won the first IT20 against South Africa with a remarkable display of hitting. When he was dismissed with three overs remaining, he took Ireland’s hopes of a win with him.
Josh Little:
The left-arm pace bowler has taken at least one IT20 wicket in each of his last ten appearances and is six dismissals away from bringing up 50 in this format.
AFG Key Players:
Hazratullah Zazai:
the left-hander has impressed with excellent performances for his country and in short-format franchises. He holds the record for the second highest IT20 score – 162 not-out against Ireland in 2019.
Rashid Khan:
The right-arm leg-spinner took 0-39 for Trent Rockets against Birmingham Phoenix on Saturday but took regular wickets during the T20 Blast earlier this summer in the UK.
Naveen ul-Haq:
The pace bowler loves this format and has been the star performer with the ball over the last two seasons of the T20 Blast. He finished as the leading wicket taker in 2021 and in second place in 2022.
Team Info:
IRE Team Updates:
Ireland have lost their last 11 international matches including the final of the T20 World Cup Qualifier.
In the last two months, they have played bilateral series against the likes of India, New Zealand, and South Africa.
They managed to deliver decent performances against all these heavyweights and most of the matches were equally contested by Ireland.
Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling will probably open the inning.
Lorcan Tucker will bat at the one-down position.
Harry Tector and Gareth Delany will handle the middle-order batting.
Andy Balbirnie will lead the Ireland as a Captain. He is also a good Batsman
Lorcan Tucker will do the Wicket Keeping for Ireland.
George Dockrell and Andy McBrine will take care of the spin bowling of his team.
Joshua Little and Mark Adair will lead the pace attack of his team.
AFG Team Updates:
Afghanistan had a clean sweep win over Zimbabwe in both ODI as well as T20I series in June.
They even defeated Bangladesh in a T20I match in March.
Most of the players have had a great outing in the domestic T20 tournament which completed last month. Both the teams are in equally good form and this is likely to be an equal contest.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai will probably open the inning.
Darwish Rasooli will bat at the one-down position.
Hashmatullah Shahidi and Najibullah-Zadran will handle the middle-order batting.
Mohammad Nabi will lead the Afghanistan as a Captain. He is also a good Alrounder
Rahmanullah Gurbaz will do the Wicket Keeping for Afghanistan.
Rashid-Khan and Mohammad Nabi will take care of the spin bowling of his team.
Fazal Haq will lead the pace attack of his team.
SQUAD:
Ireland:
Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie(c), Lorcan Tucker(w), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Fionn Hand, Stephen Doheny, Craig Young
Afghanistan:
Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Afsar Zazai, Najibullah Zadran, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Nabi(c), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Darwish Rasooli, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ibrahim Zadran, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Dream11 SL/GL Team:-