Afghanistan is scheduled to host Ireland for a three-match T20I series with the first T20I match on March 6 at their adopted home ground in India. Both the teams will be taking this series as an opportunity to prepare for this year’s ICC T20 World Cup 2020 set to be played in Australia. The hosts Afghanistan will be high on confidence after registering their maiden T20I series win over West Indies in November 2019. On the other hand, Ireland drew their last three-match T20I series against West Indies by 1-1 as one match was abandoned. Afghanistan will be the favourites but Ireland will surely pose a threat to the hosts.
Let’s now look at the Today Match Prediction for this fixture
Afghanistan vs Ireland, 1st T20I
March 6, Friday at 02:00 PM IST
Venue: Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, Greater Noida
Head to Head: In their last five meetings, Afghanistan have won four games while one match got abandoned.
March 12, 2017: Afghanistan (233/8 in 20 overs) defeated Ireland (205/10 in 19.2 overs) by 28 runs.
March 10, 2017: Afghanistan (184/8 in 20 overs) defeated Ireland (93/9 in 11 overs) by 17 runs (DLS Method).
March 8, 2017: Afghanistan (171/4 in 18 overs) defeated Ireland (165/5 in 20 overs) by 6 wickets.
Injury Status: There is currently no update on the injury unavailability.
Team Combination
Playing XI:
Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Karim Janat, Asghar Afghan (C), Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq.
Afghanistan Squad
Asghar Afghan(c), Hazratullah Zazai, Najibullah Zadran, Usman Ghani, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gulbadin Naib, Shapoor Zadran, Qais Ahmad, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Azmatullah Omarzai.
Injury Status: There is currently no update on the injury unavailability.
Team Combination
Playing XI:
Kevin O Brien, Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie (C), Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), George Dockrell, Simi Singh, Barry McCarthy, Boyd Rankin, Joshua Little.
Ireland Squad
Andrew Balbirnie(c), Shane Getkate, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w), Stephen Doheny, Boyd Rankin, Kevin O Brien, Paul Stirling, George Dockrell, Craig Young, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Simi Singh, Gareth Delany.
We are backing Afghanistan to win this match.
WK: Rahmanullah Gurbaz
BT: Andrew Balbirnie, Asghar Afghan, Hazratullah Zazai, Kevin O Brien, Najibullah Zadran
ALL: Mohammad Nabi
BW: George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Captain choices: Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai, Rashid Khan, Andrew Balbirnie.
Grand League Tip: It will be a great move to include more bowlers in your team.