The 5th T20 match of the Afghanistan tour of Ireland, 2022 is scheduled to play on Wednesday, 17th August 2022 at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast.

This series of given matches of Afghanistan vs Ireland is now tied with 2-1 and this match is going to be a final match for both teams as the winner of this team will lift the trophy of this five matches series. Afghanistan had bounced back strongly after losing two early matches while Ireland had lost two matches in a row now. Both teams are in a good position to win this series and this match is going to be very interesting. Our today prediction of this match is confirming that Afghanistan is a favorite team to win this match.

The fourth match of Ireland and Afghanistan was rain-affected and was reduced to 11 overs per side. The performance of the bowling department of Ireland was not impressive where they leaked 132 runs in 11 overs inning. Gareth Delany was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side who picked three wickets in three overs bowled out but he leaked a lot of runs. He was charged for 33 runs. Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, and Fionn Hand picked one wicket each while Simi Singh and Joshua Little were the bowlers who could not manage to pick any wicket.

The performance of the batting order of Ireland was good in the previous match but they could not chase the target of 133 runs and scored 105 runs in their inning of 11 overs. George Dockrell was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side who remained not out after scoring 41 runs on just 27 balls with the help of four boundaries and two huge sixes. Paul Stirling also performed well with the bat and scored 20 runs. He faced just nine balls and smashed three boundaries and one huge six during his inning. The skipper, Andrew Balbirnie scored 15 runs while Harry Tector could manage to score just 13 runs.

The performance of the batting order of Afghanistan was not impressive in the opening two matches but now they are back to good form and had won two games in a row. The way how their batting order performed in the fourth match was just outstanding. They scored 132 runs in 11 overs. Najibullah Zadran was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side who scored 50 runs on 24 balls with the help of four boundaries and three huge sixes. Rashid Khan was the other batter who put some runs on the board. He scored 31 balls while he faced just 10 balls and smashed one boundary and three huge sixes during his inning.

Rahmatullah Gurbaz also performed well with the bat and scored 24 runs. The performance of the bowling department of Afghanistan was not much impressive but they defended the target of 133 runs and send the full team of Ireland back to the pavilion on a total of just 105 runs in 11 overs. Fareed Ahmad Malik was the highest wicket-taker from their side who picked three wickets in his two overs bowled out while he was charged for just 14 runs. Rashid Khan picked two wickets in three overs against 21 runs. Naveen-ul-Haq was the other bowler with two wickets to his name.

Ireland had played a total of 133 T20 matches where they won 55 while opposing teams had won 70 matches. Their 7 matches ended with no result and one match was tied.

Afghanistan had played 98 T20 matches so far. They had won 66 matches and had lost 32 matches.

Afghanistan had played 22 T20 matches against Ireland where they had won 16 matches while Ireland had won six matches.

According to our match prediction, Ireland is the favorite team to win this match. The reasons why Afghanistan is a favorite team in this match, are mentioned below:

• Both teams had won two matches each in this series
• The bowling department of Ireland is back in the good form
• The batting order of Afghanistan is in good form
• Afghanistan also has a strong bowling department

Afghanistan is overall a strong team and they have a lot of experience when it comes to the T20 format of cricket, so the winning chances of today’s match for Afghanistan have been increased. The equation of winning chances of both teams for today’s match is mentioned as under.

Afghanistan has a 58% chance to win this match
Ireland has a 42% chance to win this match

The toss will play an important role in the decision of each match of this series. As per our toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may elect to bat first.

The st match of Afghanistan vs Ireland will be played at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast. The pitch at this stadium is good for batting but is one of the slower pitches in the Caribbean. Run-scoring is not going to be very easy and that could actually be a good thing for both teams. A total of 170 runs can be a par score

The weather forecast for Belfast on match day is not very good. Rain is predicted for most of the day and so it looks like we are going to struggle to get a game in.

Ireland
Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little.

Afghanistan
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Usman Ghani, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Captain: B McCarthy
Vice-Captain: A Balbirnie
L Tucker, R Gurbaz, Paul Stirling, H Shahidi, H Tector, Mohammad Nabi, G Dockrell, J Little, Naveen-ul-Haq

Date: Wednesday, 17th August 2022
Time: 02:30 PM GMT / 03:30 PM LOCAL / 08:00 PM IST

• Stadium: Civil Service Cricket Club
• Location: Belfast, Ireland
• Opened: 1949
• Capacity: 6000 approx
• Ends: Dundonald, City
• Time Zone: UTC +01:00

• Total matches: 27
• Matches won batting first: 11
• Matches won bowling first: 15
• Average 5th Inns scores: 121
• Average 5th Inns scores: 106
• The highest total recorded: 190/5 (20 Ov) by BAN vs IRE
• The lowest total recorded: 53/10 (14.3 Ov) by NEP vs IRE
• The highest score chased: 180/4 (19 Ov) by NZ vs IRE
• Lowest score defended: 43/7 (9 Ov) by IRE vs BER

Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie(c), Lorcan Tucker(w), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Fionn Hand, Stephen Doheny, Craig Young.