T20 World Cup 2022: Afghanistan vs Ireland Scorecard

25th T20I • Melbourne Cricket Ground • Melbourne

Afghanistan

Ireland

Match abandoned without a ball fielded

Info

Fantasy

Live

Scorecard

Fantasy Top Picks

Expert Team 1

R Khan

R Gurbaz

Expert Team 2

L Tucker

M Adair

Venue Details

Melbourne Cricket Ground

1st Innings

149Avg Runs

7Avg Wkts

2nd Innings

145Avg Runs

4Avg Wkts

Fantasy Tips Exclusive

Rashid Khan is the best choice for captaincy in this game, he is a consistent player in terms of fantasy points in T20 games. Rashid Khan has picked up 117 wickets in 71 innings for Afghanistan in T20I games at an average of 14.06.

Lorcan Tucker is the best batting choice for your fantasy team, he has scored 120 runs so far in this series. Tucker is performing consistently well and he will look to continue his sensational form in this game as well.

Rashid Khan and Mark Adair are the top bowlers' picks, both of them are in exceptional form and will play an important role in this game.

H2H Stats, last time when both the teams faced each other Ireland won the game by 7 wickets.

Hot Picks: Lorcan Tucker, Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Andrew Balbirnie, Rashid Khan

Risky Picks: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran

Stay aways: Azmatullah Omarzai

GL Picks: Paul Stirling, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran

Team Form (Last 5 Matches, Most recent first)

Team Form (Last 5 Matches)

Afghanistan

Ireland

Head To Head (Last 10 Matches)

AFG

6- 4

IRE

Team Comparison (Last 10 Matches)

Matches Played

Matches Won

132

Average Score

149

212/2

Highest Score

189/5

Lowest Score

95/5

Match has not started yet

Match Info

Date & Time

28 Oct, 09:30 AM IST

Venue

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Match

25th T20I,

ICC T20 World Cup 2022

Points Table

Schedule

Stats

Umpires

Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Adrian Holdstock (South Africa), Chris Brown (New Zealand, TV)

Referee

Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)

Toss

Toss yet to take Place

Commentary

So for now, that is all that we have for you from the MCG, but hopefully, with some kindness shown by the weather gods, we will get the Australia vs England game going a little later. Fingers crossed for that, but again, what the rain has done so far in the tournament, begs the question of whether more than one match for the day should be staged at different venues. The logistics is a big reason why these games are staged at the same place, but in a World Cup, we all want matches to happen, isn't it? Three matches abandoned due to bad weather is a little too much. Anyway, it still is turning out to be a memorable tournament with the matches that have been concluded. Let's hope again, that the next game, a much anticipated one, is complete. Do join us for that one. This is the pair of Pratyush and Bidipto saying good bye for the moment, keep following Sportskeeda!

Andrew Balbirnie, Ireland captain: Really disappointing, as Nabi said, not to get a game here. We know a lot about each other, so would have been great to play. If we could get things going our way here, we could go to Brisbane with a positive frame of mind. Anyway, it's about going up there and knocking Australia off their perch hopefully. It was fantastic to win here against England, a famous venue and a famous win for us! We will keep up the good work and keep fighting hard for a semi-final spot.

Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan captain: Most of the players are disappointed not to get a game here at the MCG, we have some experience of playing in the BBL, but it is really disappointing not to get an international game here, but the weather is not in our hands. The preparation was really good, we practised a lot to improve on our mistakes from the first game. We want a 150-160 score now, which should be competitive. We watched Zimbabwe play yesterday, it was indeed a fantastic victory, shows that all teams are fighting hard to win. Rashid and I share our experiences a lot with our teammates about playing in these conditions so that the information is correctly passed on.

We should have had four T20 World Cup matches at the MCG by now, before the start of the game between Australia and England, later on today. But as it stands, only two have happened, with one's outcome being affected by rain. Afghanistan are done with three matches officially, but they were in action only once, that too, on the first day of the Super 12 stage. Now they have only two more games left with only 2 points on the board. Ireland have 3 points from 3 games, and are better placed.

So, the inevitable has happened. The game has been called off without a ball being bowled.

🚨 UPDATE from MCG 🚨

We continue to wait for the start of the game but the rain continues to tumble down at the @MCG. #AfghanAtalan | #T20WorldCup2022 | #SuperCola | #AFGvIRE pic.twitter.com/vRxlmt60Dl
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) October 28, 2022

The rain isn't heavy, but it is persistent, so there's still no word of a start time.#AFGvIRE #T20WorldCup #BackingGreen ☘️🏏 pic.twitter.com/EAWGx6DUud
— Cricket Ireland (@cricketireland) October 28, 2022

16:03 local time, 10:33 IST: The inspection should have been taking place now but as you must have guessed already, the covers are still firmly in place. The rain is persistent. The wait goes on. We will start losing overs soon, if we do have a game.

There is an inspection scheduled for 16:00 local time. That will be around 45 minutes from now (10:30 IST)

15:03 local time, 9:33 IST: The covers are being rolled back on. The main cover is firmly in place while the square covers are still there as well. The waiting game continues for now.

The covers are coming off 🙌

No official word on a start time as yet, but we'll keep you posted.#AFGvIRE #T20WorldCup #BackingGreen ☘️🏏 pic.twitter.com/FbP7E4uyL3
— Cricket Ireland (@cricketireland) October 28, 2022

What does the predicted weather look like for the rest of the day? Well, it's not too promising, to say the least.

AFG vs IRE weather report: Rain prediction & weather in Melbourne for today's T20 World Cup 2022 match

Pitch report!

It's a green pitch and the weather is overcast. There will be some movement in the air with the overcast conditions around but there might be very little help off the pitch, reckon Graeme Swann and Ajit Agarkar.

14:30 local time, 9:00 IST: There is a further delay as the rain comes down again. The covers are on once more and the weather throughout the day hasn't been great. The toss is officially delayed!

Right. First things first. There is a bit of drizzle around and there is an inspection going on as we speak. The weather forecast for the day doesn't look great, so we might be in for a stop-start kind of day. There has been consistent rain in the last 24 hours in Melbourne.

After a thrilling triple-header day, we're back to the double headers at the MCG. Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda's live coverage of the contest between Afghanistan and Ireland. In a group that has been thrown wide open after a few surprise results, the top two spots are there for the taking for any side. Expect these two sides to fight it out at the 'G. To take you through everything that unravels in this game, it'll be Bidipto Datta, alongside myself, Pratyush Rohra.

It is possible to mistake the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 for a pendulum. After all, it has swung in fickle fashion from one extreme to another. The games are coming thick and fast but if the results over the last couple of days are anything to go by, it is as clear as daylight that nothing can be taken for granted.

And so, when the Afghan and Irish outfits step onto the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday afternoon, they will know that nothing short of a professional display will suffice. Neither team needs to scratch their heads to form a SWOT analysis chart of the other, having contested a 5-match T20I series in Ireland only a couple of months ago. That series too, ebbed and flowed with the hosts coming up trumps, but both teams will start from scratch come Friday.

The journey has been a contrasting one for both teams this World Cup. Afghanistan were direct entrants into the Super 12 and a loss against England and a washout against New Zealand later, find their campaign in serious jeopardy. Ireland, on the other hand, had to take the longer route of the first round and they got through unscathed, taking down two-time champions West Indies along the way. Despite a hammering at the hands of Sri Lanka thereafter, their stunning victory against neighbours England has broken Group 1 wide open.

Their batting essay in that fixture was set up by a steady and fluent partnership between skipper Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker. The Irish would have rued the fact that they let the initiative slip thereafter and settled for a below-par total, before their bowlers took over. But didn't their bowlers put on a show!

Josh Little continues to chip away at the wickets for fun while Barry McCarthy put in an impressive show as well. George Dockrell, too, had a bowl the other day and had a wicket to show for it while Fionn Hand's sorcery to castle Ben Stokes continues to be played on loop around the world. They still have areas to improve upon, especially with regard to stamping their authority upon taking an early advantage. And they must look to do so against an exciting Afghanistan outfit.

Not much has changed for Mohammad Nabi's men, simply because even the coin didn't go up a couple of days ago. But they will know that their fast-bowling duo of Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad Malik should come good in helpful conditions, given how overcast it has been in Melbourne in particular. Their spinners can always be counted upon to break games open and tie down oppositions, but it is with the bat where they need a cutting edge.

Handy little contributions alone will not suffice and either of Rahmanullah Gurbaz or Hazratullah Zazai will have to produce a substantial knock up top. Najibullah Zadran, alongside Nabi, will be in charge of finishing the innings while the tempo adopted by Ibrahim Zadran and Usman Ghani will be under scrutiny.

Most importantly, though, there is a huge weather cloud over this contest and the Australia-England duel to follow soon after. Given how this T20 World Cup is hotting up, it would be a pity if weather were to have the final say in how things unfold. But should the rain also decide to take a backseat and leave it to the players on the park, we should be in for another entertaining saga.

Both teams are well aware of what they will be up against. Ireland might just nudge ahead as favorites after their confidence-boosting win over England, but Afghanistan have a bunch of mavericks capable of taking the game away on their own. There is so much riding on this contest and it is one that could potentially define two interesting campaigns. It sure isn't one to miss out on ahead of the weekend then, is it?