Ireland and Namibia will be eyeing a place in the Super 12 when they lock horns in match 11 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The winner of the match will qualify for the main draws of the World Cup while the curtains will come down for the losing side. It is a straight knock-out game.
Heading into this fixture, both teams have won and lost a match apiece in their last two games.
Ireland began their T20 World Cup campaign in style as they beat the Netherlands by 7 wickets. But the Irishmen could not keep up the winning ways as they lost their next match against Sri Lanka by 70 runs.
Namibia had a contrasting start to their T20 World Cup journey as they were thumped by 7 wickets in their first match of the tournament. But the team bounced back quickly from the loss and defeated the Netherlands by 6 wickets, which was their first-ever win in the ICC T20 World Cup.
Head-to-head
Ireland have won the only match that has been played between the two countries. It was in the qualifiers for this year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup in which Ireland beat Namibia by 27 runs.
Form Guide:
Ireland: W-L-W-W-W
Namibia: L-W-L-L-W
Pitch and conditions:
The second half of this year’s IPL showed that the pitches at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium have slowed down considerably. Sharjah hosted ten matches of the IPL 2021 UAE leg and of them, six matches were won by the team batting second. The average first innings total of the 10 IPL games played at the venue this year is 136.9. So, if the trend continues, scoring runs should be tough.
The afternoon is going to be warm and sunny. The temperature is going to be 36 degrees Celsius with the humidity level at around 34 per cent.
Deccan Herald’s Dream XI
Paul Stirling, Kevin O'Brien, Stephan Baard, Andy Balbirnie (c), Gerhard Erasmus, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, David Wiese, Neil Rock (wk), JJ Smit, Ruben Trumpelmann
Impact player for Namibia
David Wiese: Watch out for David Wiese. The all-rounder played a crucial knock of 66 not out to help Namibia beat the Netherlands in their previous match. Wiese has plenty of T20 experience. He has played 269 T20 games and scored 2,931 runs. In those games, he has also picked 209 wickets. In this must-win match, Wiese’s experience will be useful.
Impact player for Ireland
Kevin O'Brien: Kevin O'Brien is an aggressive opening batter. If he gets going, then it would be tough for the Namibian bowlers to stop him. O'Brien has played 251 T20 games and scored 4,418 runs at a strike rate of 133.11. He has hit two fifties and 14 tons. O'Brien’s blitz up top will be crucial for Ireland.
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