ABC News Today

Rain has followed Afghanistan quite extensively during this year’s T20 World Cup. Their second warm-up match against Pakistan was abandoned after a heavy downpour at the Gabba. If that wasn’t enough, their second encounter in the tournament, against New Zealand, was also swept without a ball being bowled, giving them their first point of this year’s tournament.

On Friday, they were again on the receiving end of rain, with their third match of the tournament, the second at the MCG washed out without a ball. While Ireland benefited from rain the other day against England, they have no choice but to split points with Afghanistan here.

Group 1 clash between Afghanistan and Ireland has been abandoned due to persistent rain in Melbourne 🌧#T20WorldCup | #SUBSCRIBE pic.twitter.com/jhZAbWxuUW

— ICC (@ICC) October 28, 2022

Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi expressed his disappointment at the development, calling it a shame not to play at the stunning MCG.

“I am very disappointed not to play on such an amazing ground. Me and Rash (Rashid) have played many BBL matches here but most of the players are waiting to play here… But it is not in our hands and we are waiting with il I’m looking forward to the next games,” he said after the game.

The Asian side had a great chance to beat England in their opening match, but a flurry of missed chances on the pitch cost them two points. Nabi insisted his plan the other night against England was to reach a total of 140-150, which could have been a stern test for the Three Lions.

“The preparation was very good, we learned a lot from our first game against England and worked on our particular mistakes. We were fully prepared for these 2 games, but unfortunately we couldn’t play. The plan was to put score on the board and bring the spinners into the game during the chase, in the first game too we made few mistakes and that’s why we couldn’t reach the score of 140-150.”

This year’s T20 World Cup has already provided fans with two last-ball thrillers, featuring Pakistan. On the clash with Zimbabwe, Nabi declared that it was a tight game and credited the African side for putting a truckload of pressure on them.

“We watched the last two matches, it was a tight match between Zimbabwe and Pakistan. Zimbabwe played very well and fought till the last ball, every team is trying to win some World Cup matches,” he added .

All is not lost for Afghanistan, who have collected two points from three games. But with England and Australia having played one less match, it may all come down to net pace at the end of the day.

Ireland, on the other hand, would regret the missed opportunity to collect more points, after their victory against England in the previous game. Their skipper Andrew Balbirnie insisted they can only do so much in terms of time.

“Very disappointing. We had played some good cricket and we were really looking forward to it. We can’t do much with the weather. We struggled with the West Indies against Sri Lanka. We tried to back up the win, unlike before, after England. game and show up today but we couldn’t. We’ll fly tomorrow. It’ll be like a different country in Brisbane. We want to push the champions. There’s a lot going on so it’s tough,” Balbirnie said.