Afghanistan will lock horn with Ireland in the 4th ODI on Friday. After trailing by 1-0, Ireland levelled the series 1-1 and they created a chance to go one-up in the ODI series for the first time. Afghan bowlers did not bowl well in last match by looking at their standard and most importantly their two prime spinners did not has a great outing managed to pick only two wickets, rest all bowlers were smashed for the runs. With the lack of par-score on the board, Afghanistan lost their first match in this tour.
On the other hand, the visitors may have won their last match, but couldn't produce any promising performance from Irish batsmen except Andrew Balbirnie and George Dockrell who played a match winning knock of 145 and 54 respectively. Still with the lack of wicket taking ability in regular intervals Irish bowlers need to step up to get a lead in this series. Andrew Balbirnie, William Porterfield, Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien will have important roles to play to gain a heads up in this ODI series.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Mohammad Shahzad (9 credits)
Shahzad who is best known for hard hitting, but still his bat has been quite in this series. The wicket-keeper batsman cannot keep himself quite for a long time, he might be frustrated and will be eager to score a big. As world cup is up this match might be the great opportunity to showcase his hitting ability by scoring big. Shahzad
Afghanistan will lock horn with Ireland in the 4th ODI on Friday. After trailing by 1-0, Ireland levelled the series 1-1 and they created a chance to go one-up in the ODI series for the first time. Afghan bowlers did not bowl well in last match by looking at their standard and most importantly their two prime spinners did not has a great outing managed to pick only two wickets, rest all bowlers were smashed for the runs. With the lack of par-score on the board, Afghanistan lost their first match in this tour.
On the other hand, the visitors may have won their last match, but couldn't produce any promising performance from Irish batsmen except Andrew Balbirnie and George Dockrell who played a match winning knock of 145 and 54 respectively. Still with the lack of wicket taking ability in regular intervals Irish bowlers need to step up to get a lead in this series. Andrew Balbirnie, William Porterfield, Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien will have important roles to play to gain a heads up in this ODI series.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Mohammad Shahzad (9 credits)
Shahzad who is best known for hard hitting, but still his bat has been quite in this series. The wicket-keeper batsman cannot keep himself quite for a long time, he might be frustrated and will be eager to score a big. As world cup is up this match might be the great opportunity to showcase his hitting ability by scoring big. Shahzad has played 9 matches against Ireland, scored 317 runs at an average of 35.22 which is second best among others.
Batsman: Andrew Balbirnie (8.5 credits)
Balbirnie surprised everyone by playing a match winning knock of 145 when others failed to score on the same venue. With that knock he kept his side alive in this series from another disaster. A same kind of performance can be expected from Balbirnie. With that ne becomes leading run-scorer against Afghanistan with 404 runs in 10 matches at an average of 50.50, which itself is a best among other Irish players.
All-rounder: Mohammad Nabi (10 credits)
Nabi couldn't replicate his star performance which he shown in recently concluded T20I series against Ireland. Nabi's lack of form with both bat and ball has been worrying Afghanistan in the middle-order in this ODI series, where he managed to score just 26 runs in his two ODIs and picked two wickets. But he is a big match player, a good inning can be expected in upcoming match.
Bowler: Dawlat Zadran (8.5 credits)
Dawlat Zadran has been in impressive form for Afghanistan and has provided regular break-through whenever required. Zadran is leading the chart of wicket-taker in this ODI series with 5 in just two matches at an economy of just 4.35 which is the best among all bowlers of both teams. We can expect him to pick at least two wickets in a moment for Afghaistan.
Captain: Mohammad Shahzad
Vice-captain: Mohammad Nabi
