Published: Jan 14, 2017, 06:46 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 14, 2017, 06:46 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog and updates of the Dessert T20 Challenge. This is the second match of the tournament between Afghanistan and Ireland, which will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium of Abu Dhabi. Eight teams are participating in the tournament and have been divided into two groups, Group A and Group B. Each team will play three games, one match each with the other members of their respective groups for their chance to make it to the semi-final. The participating teams are Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland and UAE.
Afghanistan are probably the biggest rival team against Ireland. They are coming off an emphatic whitewash series win over UAE. They will be confident heading into this match under the captaincy of calm and composed Asghar Stanikzai. They are probably the strongest contender to win this tournament. In last one year, Afghanistan has played some impressive cricket. They showed some good performances in the World T20 2016, where they were the only team to beat West Indies in the tournament.
FULL UPDATES: Desert T20 Championship 2017
Afghanistan has got good a record in UAE, be it in any format. They have played 24 T20Is so far in UAE and won 17 out of them while lost 7. They are the only team to have registered more than 15 T20I victories in UAE. Afghanistan also have the second best win/loss ratio in T20Is in UAE. On the other hand, William Porterfield-led Ireland carry the top spot in the list of win/loss ratio in UAE. They have been promising, but have not done anything special in last one year. They are famous for creating upsets against big teams. They did not live up to the mark in the year 2016. Both the teams are at equal level against each other, and will be interesting to witness the clash.
Squads:
Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai (c), Amir Hamza, Karim Janat, Fareed Ahmad, Gulbaddin Naib, Dawlat Zadran, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Najeeb Tarakai, Noor Ali Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nawroz Mangal, Samiullah Shenwari, Naveen-ul-Haq
Ireland: William Porterfield (c), Andy Balbrinie, Andy McBrine, Craig Young, Boyd Rankin, Jacob Mulder, Gary Wilson, Greg Thompson, Joshua Little, George Dockrell, Stuart Thompson, Paul Stirling, Kevin O’Brien, Brian McCarthy
