Afghanistan vs Ireland T20I series 2020 – 1st T20I
Venue:
GNSCG (Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground), Greater Noida is the home ground for the Afghanistan for the series. The home side is Afghanistan and visiting team is Ireland for the series. The teams played other two series before, when the ground in India was the home ground for Afghanistan. One was at Greater Noida in 2017 and another was at Dehradun in 2019.
1st T20I:
First meeting of the series of three T20I matches between Afghanistan and Ireland is going to be played at the GNSCG, Greater Noida.
Ireland vs Afghanistan in India History
This is 4th T20I series between the teams, and visitors’ 3rd visit of the country for the T20I series. Out of 3 series, Afghanistan has upper hand, as the team won all the series. Ireland is still looking for the first series victory against the opponent.
When Afghanistan was home team of the series, Ireland’s record was also not much impressive and the team is still looking for the first series win.
Overall, the teams met each other on 15 occasions. Ireland won only 3 times, whereas, Afghanistan won 12 matches.
When Ireland visited Afghanistan as home team, the teams played 6 matches, and the visitors never won a single time, yet.
Last time Ireland won the T20I match against Afghanistan in 2013. In last 10 meetings between the teams, Afghanistan won all the encounters.
Victory brings points:
The contest is between the seventh rank team (Afghanistan) and thirteenth rank team (Ireland). Due to big point difference between the teams, the home team has to win the series without any defeat to increase a point for the team and stay on the same position. A single defeat can lead the team to drop down from the current position and lose the points.
On the other hand, a series defeat without any win can lead the visiting team to drop teams position and a single win can help the visiting team to improve team’s position as well as the points. First series victory will help to gain plenty of points to the team.
The host has nothing to lose, in case of series defeat without any win, but the team could improve their position with winning matches and the series.
If result of the first match will come in favor of the home side, the home team will get a point and the same position and in case of result against the team will drop the team’s position with point deduction. But, the result will be very important for the visitors, as the defeat will drop the team’s position by a rank and victory will improve the position of the team.
Venue Weather:
Weather forecast of the Greater Noida shows the isolated thunder storm in Greater Noida, which would disturb the match. Rain would be expected, as the precipitation percentage would be very high. The temperature would be less than 20s, and wind would be little high.
Toss and Pitch:
Teams preferred to bat first after winning the toss, which happened two times out of 3 matches, and the teams won once after selecting the first batting and lost same times. On the other hand, the teams who chose to field first, after winning the toss, in only encounter and lost the match. Overall, once the teams, won the toss, won the matches and lost twice.
Particularly, for Afghanistan, the team won the toss once out of three times, and the team won the match.
The first batting team won the matches twice, whereas, the teams, who batted second, won the match just once.
The lowest defended total was 184, and the highest successful chase was 166 runs on the venue. Interesting to see, if the target would be set between 166 and 184 in upcoming game.
The first inning lowest total was 165, and, and the highest total was 233 runs, and for the second inning, the lowest total was 93 ( in 11 overs, DLS was used), whereas highest was 205 run.
Batting average of the first inning at the ground is 27.71 and 20.29 for the second inning.
History Between the Teams:
Both the teams faced each other on the venue thrice, and the visitors is still looking for the first win.
ODI History at Venue:
The home side has excellent record at the venue, and the team is undefeated till date.
Tentative XI for both the Teams:
Afghanistan:
The host would prefer to have spinner as the spinners are team’s strength.
Afghanistan Eleven: G. Naib, H. Zazai, N. Zadran, S. Shinwari, A. Afghan, M. Nabi, K. Janat, R. Gurbaz, R. Khan, S. Zadran, M. ul Rahman
Ireland:
The visitors would also prefer to have combination of pacers and spinners.
Ireland Eleven: P. Stirling, G. Delany, A. Balbirnie, H. Tector / S. Getkate, K. O’Brien, S. Singh, L. Tucker, G. Dockrell, B. McCarthy, B. Rankin, C. Young
