Who Will Win Afghanistan vs Ireland 1st T20?
Afghanistan will begin their tour of Ireland with a three-match T20 international series at the Bready Cricket Club in Bready, Northern Ireland. The first T20I is scheduled to be played on August 20 with live telecast to begin at 4 PM local time.
Ire vs Afg 1st T20: Where to Watch/Live Streaming
TV channels: Sony Six, Sky Sports Cricket, Fox Sports, SuperSport
Live Streaming: SonyLIV, Bet365, SuperSport Live, Now TV
Toss Prediction
The Bready Cricket Club has hosted three completed T20 internationals till date out of which two have been won by the side bowling first. Since the wicket at this venue is not expected to change much after the first period of play, the team that wins the toss here will probably want to field first.
Read on for team previews, betting odds, betting tips and match prediction for Ireland vs Afghanistan 1st T20I...
Ireland Team News & Playing 11
IRE Team News
Ireland have announced a 13-man squad for this upcoming T20 international series against Afghanistan. Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, William Porterfield, Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien are some of the players who were also a part of the side that took on India in the two-match T20 international series at home in June. Gary Wilson will be leading the team with James Shannon likely to open the batting alongside Paul Stirling.
IRE Key Players
Ireland will look to the likes of Paul Stirling, James Shannon, William Porterfield and Kevin O'Brien to score the big runs. Stirling is the leading run-getter in the 20-overs format and the onus will be on him to take the team off to a brisk start. Shannon scored the most runs for the side in the last T20I series against India and he even hit a fifty in one of the two matches. Kevin O'Brien has scored the most runs for Ireland at this ground in this format and he is the danger man in the middle order. The allrounder who is Ireland's highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket will also be a big threat with the ball. Pace bowler Peter Chase was impressive against India with five wickets in two matches and he together with Boyd Rankin will be the hosts' best bets for picking up the early wickets.
IRE Recent Form
Ireland have been struggling to perform in the shortest version of the game. They have won just 3 of their last 13 T20 internationals and one out of the six they have played this year. Their most recent T20I assignment came in June against India at home - it was a two-game series at Dublin and the hosts ended up losing both the matches. Prior to that, Ireland managed to win just one of their four fixtures in the home tri-series that also involved Netherlands and Scotland.
Ireland Predicted Playing 11
Paul Stirling, James Shannon, William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, Gary Wilson (c/wk), Kevin O'Brien, Simi Singh, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase, Joshua Little/Andy McBrine
Afghanistan Team News & Playing 11
AFG Team News
Afghanistan have named a 14-man squad for the T20 international series. Hazratullah Zazai who made his T20I debut in December 2016 makes a comeback into the side along with pace bowler Mirwais Ashraf who returns after two years. Afghanistan have ignored the likes of Shapoor Zadran, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Darwish Rasooli, Najeeb Tarakai and Karim Janat all of whom featured in the previous T20I series against Bangladesh in June.
AFG Key Players
Mohammad Shahzad, Samiullah Shenwari, Usman Ghani and Mohammad Nabi are the key figures in Afghanistan's batting line-up. Shahzad is the team's leading run-getter in T20Is with 1906 runs which includes a century and 12 fifties. Shenwari topped the runs charts in the last T20I series against Bangladesh with 118 runs in three matches. Mohammad Nabi is a vital cog in this side due to his allround skills. He is not only among the leading run-getters for Afghanistan in this format but also the leading wicket-taker with 65 wickets. Apart from Nabi, the visitors will also bank on Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman to deliver the goods with the ball. Rashid is currently the world no. 1 bowler in T20 cricket and has 57 wickets to his name in 33 matches. The troika of Rashid, Nabi and Mujeeb is likely to cause problems for the Irish batsmen on this tour.
AFG Recent Form
Afghanistan have been very impressive of late in the 20-overs format having won 12 of their last 15 matches. Since that 0-3 series defeat against the West Indies at Basseterre last year in June, Afghanistan have played five T20 internationals and have won each of them. They started this year with a 2-0 win over Zimbabwe at Sharjah in February before whitewashing Bangladesh 0-3 at Dehradun in June.
Afghanistan Predicted Playing 11
Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Usman Ghani, Asghar Stanikzai (c), Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Shafiqullah Shafiq, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Aftab Alam
Aug 20, 2018
20:30 IST / 15:00 GMT
Bready Cricket Club - Co Tyrone, Ireland
IRE vs AFG 
Leave Your Comment
We do our best to give you most accurate & useful match predictions and would love to hear from you. Let us know if we need to improve. Share your own predictions for the matches. Let's talk: