Afghanistan vs Ireland - 4th ODI Fantasy Preview

Drama drama drama at Dehradun. Just when you thought that Ireland will probably never win a single game against Afghanistan on this tour of India 2019, they stitch together a brilliant chase, led by Andrew Balbirnie’s career-best score of 145*, an innings which saw a perfect blend of aggression and control. Suddenly, the ODI series actually seems wide open, level 1-1 after three games, having lost one match to rain.

Same pitch, same teams, same place, same time, different contest. In the fantasy preview of the 3rd ODI, we spoke about Afghanistan wanting to try out their bench strength, but now we think they will need to play their strongest team once again, as just 2 games are left in the series and they will want to walk away with a series win. Read our fantasy preview for the 4th ODI below…

Match info

Tournament: Afghanistan and Ireland in India, 2019
Date: 8th March 2019, 1:00pm IST
Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Series status: The series is level 1-1.

Form (recent first)

Afghanistan: L NR W T L L W W
Ireland: W NR L L W L L W

Stats

Rashid Khan has 21 wickets in 9 international matches here.
Afghanistan have just lost 1 match here. Ireland have won just 1.
Hazratullah Zazai is the highest run-scorer at this ground – 330 runs.
Head to head in ODIs – Afghanistan 11-11 Ireland.

Afghanistan

Now the X-factor player for Afghanistan in the 4th ODI is going to be Rashid Khan. We have seen in the past, hit Rashid and he will strike back. Gayle and others tonked him for sixes in the IPL and he got them OUT. Rashid was hit around for a few runs in the 3rd ODI and he only has 2 wickets so far in this series, so you can expect him to strike back hard. I would even consider making him my vice-captain (too many all-rounder who we could make captain).

Now I’m a really huge fan of Mohammad Nabi and his experience around the world is comparable to none in the team. However, Samiullah Shenwari is another important all-rounder, while Gulbadin Naib has been doing well too. They have both bowled more and batted ahead of Nabi. I would suggest picking Shenwari, and Naib too, if he plays (since he didn’t play the 3rd ODI), while Nabi can be given the axe for a game.

Ireland

One thing is for sure, while Paul Stirling stood up in one game (89) and Andy Balbirnie (145*) in the other, there will be a huge percentage of fantasy players picking them for the 4th ODI. However, you have to play your cards right in fantasy cricket. William Porterfield is the Irish captain with the most experience and probably their best batsman. With scores of 1 and 3 on this tour so far, not many will be selecting him and he could be your dark horse. He will be better used to the pitch now after 2 outings.

In the all-rounders department, I’d suggest picking Simi Singh ahead of Kevin O’Brien. Known as a fearsome all-rounder, KOB didn’t even get an over to bowl in the last game, while Singh bowled 8 overs, in addition to batting ahead of KOB. Now Singh hasn’t returned great numbers so far in this series, but he is a high value pick, while you can use those other all-rounder slots for the Afghans.

AFG vs IRE Punting

Place bets at BEST ODDS in the 4th ODI
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— Read Scoops (@ReadScoops) March 7, 2019