AFG v IRE 3rd ODI Preview: Both teams eager to bring up their A game in the series decider

The Afghanistan-Ireland ODI series has proved to be quite an exciting one so far as both the teams have given each other a run for their money. Afghanistan were the favourites coming into the series considering the conditions in the UAE which are low and slow and they lived up to the expectations in the first game as they blew Ireland away on the back of a fantastic spell of bowling by the teenager Mujeeb Zadran.

However Ireland fought back in the next game and riding on Paul Sterling’s sparkling half century and Barry McCarthy’s 5-fer, they levelled it 1-all with a 51-run win. The series is set up nicely now for a finale which is going to take place tomorrow at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium the same venue where the first two games were played.

Focus will be on

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

Rashid is probably one of the top 3 spinners in world cricket at the moment in limited-overs cricket and he has bowled as per his reputation in the series so far he has grabbed 5 wickets in two matches at an average of 13.6 which is remarkable, to say the least. Afghanistan would want their premier spinner to be at the top of his game in the decider too.

Paul Sterling (Ireland)

The dashing right-handed opener has been one of Ireland’s most consistent batsmen in 50-over cricket in the last one year or so. He goes hard at the top of the order against the quicks and is a good player of spin too. Ireland will be relying heavily on him tomorrow to give them a good start and build a solid opening partnership with the captain William Porterfield just like he did in the 2nd game.

Team composition

Afghanistan

While Afghanistan will be going with the same XI they fielded in the second game, they would like their middle order batsmen to stand up and score some runs as they have failed in both the games so far. Most of the contribution have come either from the top order or the lower order as the three key batsmen in the middle order Asghar Stanikzai, Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib have had a relatively quiet series.

Bowling wise, Afghanistan don’t have too many issues. While Rashid has been fantastic, he has got great support from the other end with Mujeeb Zadran putting up a display of some outstanding leg-spin bowling. These two spinners will again look to make life tough for the Irish batsmen in the last match.

Predicted XI: Javed Ahmadi, Ihsanullah Janat, Rahmat Shah, Nasir Jamal, Asghar Stanikzai (C), Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Shafiqullah Shafiq (WK), Dawlat Zadran, Mujeeb Zadran

Ireland

Ireland are also suffering from middle-order woes as the backbone of their batting haven’t quite come to the party. The O’Brien brothers have had a couple of failures and they are in for a big one and so is Gary Wilson who has scored a total of just 3 runs in two games.

Their bowling is going to be much stronger with the return of Boyd Rankin who is back fit now and, in all likelihood, will replace Peter Chase.

Predicted XI: William Porterfield (C), Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie, Niall O’Brien (WK), Gary Wilson, Kevin O’Brien, Stuart Poynter, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Tim Murtagh, Barry McCarthy