AFG vs IRL 1st T20I match prediction 6 Mar 2020

With a promise of another neck and neck competition, Afghanistan and Ireland are going to meet at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, on March 6 kicking off the first of the three T20Is.

When two teams as closely knit, with respect to their history in the sport, as Afghanistan and Ireland meet for a T20I clash, great eventualities are bound to happen. While Afghanistan, unanimously have had an upper hand over Ireland over the past ten years, it has only gotten stronger in recent times. As you, the fans, pick your favourites ahead of the game -as every T20I game demands an unwavering commitment to one team- we insist you bring your inner punter out. Don’t worry, we’ll guide you through it as we have looked into interesting data and we are going to put it together for you as you enjoy the game with a promising prospect of profits. Also, the game is on a Friday and the excitement of the weekend will get two-fold. How good is the deal now? Here, let’s look at the most promising player bets.

At least 23 runs expected from Hazratullah Zazai

One of the biggest promising prospects that Afghanistan has posed for the team’s T20I future is their left-handed opener Hazratullah Zazai. In the 13 matches that he has played so far, he aggregates 43.2 with the bat. But against Ireland, the batting average pumps up to 90! Whereas against other teams, his average is either 24 or less. That alone tells us how advantageous he is against the familiar opponents. In all the five T20Is he has played against the Irish side, Zazai has scored 31, 162*, 11, 82, 74, which gives us an average score of 72. Now, looking at his form in T20Is, in his last five games he has accumulated- 0, 26, 27, 43, 31- an average of 25.4 runs. In the first case, he has scored 23 or more runs four out of five times and in the second case as well, the requirement is fulfilled on four instances. With the odds for Zazai scoring 23 or more runs placed at 1.87, by Dafabet, I reassure it’s one of the best and safest bets to place in the game.

Paul Stirling to hit a few boundaries

Ireland opener Paul Stirling has been one of the most prominent names in the team’s history since its relevance. He is one of the mainstays for Ireland across formats and that means his contributions in T20Is cannot be overlooked. One of his biggest pumps to Ireland’s batting is his ability to accelerate the innings in the early stages of the innings with his consistent ability to hit fours. Looking at his current form, the right-hander has hit 2, 12, 3, 0, 4, 5 in his last six games for Ireland. Now the seasoned Irish batsman is expected to hit at least three boundaries on Friday. That gives us four positive instances in the six-match sample space. Now, coming to his record against Afghanistan, in the last four head to head encounters, he has scored three fours on average, which fulfils our requirement again. Now as Bet365 has placed the odds of Stirling scoring at least three fours in Friday’s game at 1.66, we say you should go for this extremely reasonable bet.

Rashid Khan to show-off his trickery

It’s no news to fans that Rashid Khan is but one of the best T20I bowlers out there and, in fact, his numbers against Ireland are equally great. He averages 7.2 with the ball with the same strike rate against the Irishmen and those numbers are incredible even by Rashid Khan’s standards. So looking at the legspinner’s numbers against their good old opponents, we have found out that he has bagged 5, 4, 2, 4, 3 wickets, respectively, in the last five head to head T20I games. In no game has any other Afghan bowler bagged more wickets than Rashid and he has been the top team bowler four times. Also, the last three games were played in India (5,4,2 wickets) which gives us more promise that Rashid will trump over his fellow bowlers. With Dafabet placing the odds for Rashid Khan to be the top team bowler at 2.54. it’s a big-money bet and I believe no one should miss out on this one.