IRE vs NZ: 5 Players to watch out for in T20I Series
After a nail-biting ODI series, Ireland and New Zealand will be locking horns in a three-match T20I series starting July 18. The next two games will be played on July 20th and July 22nd respectively. All the matches are scheduled to be played at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast.
Meanwhile, there are some players who are expected to make a mark in the upcoming series having proved their mettle in the past. Without further ado, here’s a look at five of them.
5. Mark Adair
Mark Adair has been one of Ireland’s promising all-rounders for a while with the ability of making a tremendous impact with both bat and ball. He was the hero for Ireland during the second T20I against India where he took 3/42 and then contributed with an unbeaten 12-ball 23.
4. Andrew Balbirnie
Andrew Balbirnie also has the potential to play match-defining knocks with the bat and chip in with the ball in hand if required. The Irish skipper is one of the backbones of his side in this format and can take the game away from the opposition on his day.
Balbirnie has so far featured in 69 T20Is and has gone on to score 1489 runs at a strike rate of almost 128 with his highest score being 83.
3. Mitchell Santner
Mitchell Santner has been a very handy bowler for New Zealand in the last few years. He can dismantle any opposition with his street-smart left-arm spin. As far as Santner’s T20I career is concerned, the senior spinner has so far registered 66 scalps to his name from the 62 games that he has played at an economy rate of 7.27. The southpaw can also be a handy batter lower down the order.
2. Michael Bracewell
New Zealand completely owe their ODI series win to Michael Bracewell who braved all odds to help the Kiwis snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the first two games, scoring an unbeaten 82-ball 127 and 40-ball 42. In the second match, he also chipped in with figures of 2/26. Ireland must come well prepared in order to stop Bracewell from going berserk.
- Martin Guptill
Martin Guptill scored 115 in the third game which was instrumental in New Zealand registering a one-run win. Guptill might not be scoring consistently for some time, but he is definitely a force to reckon with in the shortest format.
The senior batter is currently the 11thranked batter in T20Is with 3299 runs from 112 matches and just needs 81 more runs to get past Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s tally of 3379 runs, the highest in T20Is.
