Match Preview
It is Ireland vs Afghanistan who will be locking horns for today’s first T20I of the 5-match series between the two nations. For Ireland, things do not look good as they have lost all 11 of their last international fixtures. Against Afghanistan today, they will look to get some wins under their belt. But, it will be no easy task for the hosts.
Afghanistan on the other hand have seen a good rise in T20Is as they have won their last 12 international T20Is out of 13 and all of these came against Ireland. The visitors also clean swept Zimbabwe in both ODI and T20I series in June this year. In March this year, Afghanistan also beat Bangladesh. All of their players had good games in their domestic circuit this year.
Match Details
Venue: Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast
Match Format: T20I, Match 1, T20I Series
Date: 9th August 2022
Time: 8:00 PM IST
Streaming Platform: Fan Code
Pitch Report
The pitch at Belfast is better suited for batsmen and so a high-scoring game is in store for today. The pacers will get assistance from the pitch in the second half of the match and so the team who wins the toss today will most likely bat first.
Team News & Injury Updates for IRE vs AFG Dream11 Match:
Both teams are in full strength and as of now, there are no injuries on either side.
Complete Squad for IRE vs AFG Dream11 Match:
Ireland
Andrew Balbirnie (c), Harry Tector, Andy McBrine, Curtis Campher, Fionn Hand, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Stephen Doheny (wk), Barry McCarthy, Craig Young, Joshua Little, Mark Adair
Afghanistan
Darwish Rasooli, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Usman Ghani, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi (c), Sharafuddin Ashraf, Afsar Zazai (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Fareed Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Nijat Masood, Noor Ahmad, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan
Probable Playing XI for IRE vs AFG Dream11 Match:
Ireland
The Irish are tough competition for any team this year. But their win record this year hasn’t been great so far. They need to figure out a good playing XI for today’s game against Afghanistan.
Predicted Playing XI:
Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little
Afghanistan
The Afghanis have played some really good cricket this year and will look to continue their superb winning streak against the Irish in today’s match.
Predicted Playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Darwish Rasooli, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq
Top Picks for IRE vs AFG Dream11 Match:
Ireland
Paul Stirling
The Irish opener is a vastly experienced player for Ireland and will be expected to play a very key role in today’s match. He needs 60 runs to get to the 3000 runs mark in T20Is and is the fourth highest run scorer in T20Is.
Harry Tector
The middle-order batter has played some really good cricket for Ireland in the recent past. This year, he has become the highest-run scorer for his country and has done excellently in T20Is. In his 11 international T20Is this year, he has amassed 289 runs at a very huge strike rate of 133.17.
Curtis Campher
The all-rounder for Ireland made his debut last year against Zimbabwe. In total, he has played 17 international games and made 250 runs at a strike rate of 116.82 and has 16 scalps at an average of 25.18.
Afghanistan
Karim Janat
In Afghanistan’s Shpageeza Cricket League, Janat has scored 158 runs and has an average of 26.33 and a strike rate of 139.82. He has also taken 6 wickets at an average of 24.16 and has an economy of 6.9 and a healthy strike rate of 21.
Rashid Khan
The spinner for Afghanistan is famous in all T20 leagues around the world and is expected to play an important role in the first T20I. He just needs 3 wickets to become the second highest wicket-taker in T20Is.
Naveen-ul-Haq
Naveen’s last game for Afghanistan was in January this year. In all, he has played only 13 T20Is for his country but has enough experience of playing 100 T20Is. In this year’s T20 Blast, Naveen was the second highest wicket-taker with 25 wickets at an average of 16.16.
Players to avoid for the IRE vs AFG Dream11 Match:
Ireland
Paul Stirling
Although experienced, Stirling did not have many contributions to make against the full-member teams that he has played against in the past two months. He is struggling to find form and was out quite early on in the past series.
Afghanistan
Azmatullah Omarzai
Having made his debut this year against Bangladesh, the 22-year-old so far has only 5 wickets to his name. In the last T20I match that he played against Bangladesh, he picked up 3 wickets for 22 runs for which he got the Player of the Match award as well. But, he could not get a single wicket against Zimbabwe in Afghanistan’s last series.
Our Playing XI for IRE vs AFG 1st T20I Dream11 Fantasy Cricket:
IRE vs AFG:
Lorcan Tucker, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Paul Stirling, Najibullah Zadran, Harry Tector (vc), Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Nabi, Curtis Campher, Craig Young, Rashid Khan (c), Naveen-ul-Haq
Probable Winner
The contest is very much even so it is tough to decide who will win the match. But, Afghanistan’s team combination will help them in today’s match and they look, likely the winner.
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