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Having lost the first four encounters against Afghanistan on this tour – and seeing the fifth match washed out, Ireland was in need of an inspirational moment or performance…and that promptly came in the shape of Andy Balbirnie. His 145* from 136 balls inspired a memorable Irish victory, levelling the ODI series at 1-1. Now, can Ireland continue the momentum?
Balbirnie was delighted with the knock, but immediately refocussed on the challenge ahead:

“When you go out and bat, you dream of having that kind of knock, so to do it is just great. Hopefully we’ve got confidence now. I thought the bowlers did extremely well – the Afghans batted well in the middle, but we managed to drag it back a bit. The guys up top, Tim Murtagh and Andy McBrine, did really well. It wasn’t a perfect performance, there’s still things to work on, but we’re one-all with two games to go and that is great.”

He was also quick to laud the support at the crease from fellow Dubliner, George Dockrell:

“He batted brilliantly – I think he’s been given the role as number 6 because he’s shown he can be a batter in this team. He came in and showed a calm head, he knew what he wanted to do, and that took a bit of pressure off me. That he was about to do that with such ease, it’s a shame he didn’t get to see it through with me, but he played a brilliant knock.”

Friday’s fourth ODI gives the men in green a chance to claim to back-to-back victories and keep the hopes of a precious series win alive before the solitary Test starting on March 15.

Key battle – Irish batsmen to add consistency

Ireland’s batting line-up knows it will need to deliver again. Balbirnie’s exploits should serve as inspiration to the rest of the batting unit to stand tall against a talented Afghanistan outfit comprising a spin attack – a la Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman – that leaves even the world’s elite casting an envious glance.

Conditions

The weather is looking a little patchy with rain forecast during the afternoon, before brightening up a little later. The Dehradun track has been increasingly playing slower and lower, and more of the same is expected.

Squads

Afghanistan: Asghar Afghan(c), Mohammad Shahzad, Noor Ali Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Dawlat Zadran, Zahir Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Shapoor Zadran, Sayed Shirzad, Fareed Malik

Ireland: William Porterfield(c), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, James Cameron-Dow, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Tim Murtagh, James McCollum, Kevin O Brien, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker

Ireland will look to draw inspiration from Balbirnie’s knock
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Connaught