Afghanistan aim to overtake Ireland

DUBAI: Afghanistan will host Ireland for an ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture at their home ground of Greater Noida near New Delhi from Tuesday that could play a crucial role in determining which team gets a shot at playing Test cricket.

Afghanistan will be hoping that familiar conditions help them. They need to win the maximum 20 points to surge ahead of their opposition on the points table. Ireland are currently at the top with 80 points, while Afghanistan are on 61 points.

The side that wins the Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 will play the bottom-ranked Test team on the ICC Test Team Rankings in the ICC Test Challenge in 2018 and try to acquire Test status until the next event in 2022, provided it wins the challenge.