Less than a week since hosts Ireland stunned South Africa in the second ODI in Dublin, the two teams now meet in the shortest format of cricket when they lock horns in the first T20I on Monday.

File image of Ireland cricket team . AP

This three-match series will provide both the teams an opportunity to finetune their preparations leading upto the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. While Ireland are grouped in Group A, along with Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Namibia in the tournament’s preliminary round, South Africa face a tough challenge in the ‘Group of Death’ (Group 1) of the Super 12s, which consists of England, Australia, West Indies and two teams from the preliminary round.

Ireland, however, have not played a T20I in over a year, having last played against Afghanistan in March 2020.

Ireland’s Kevin O’ Brien, will look to produce some magic with the bat. Kevin has been struggling in terms of form, having scored all of just 27 runs from five international matches. He even took part in the Irish inter-provincial T20 tournament, where he managed just 47 runs in six games with a top score of 16.

Playing XI:

Ireland: Paul Stirling, Kevin O Brien, Harry Tector, Andrew Balbirnie(c), George Dockrell, Lorcan Tucker(w), Shane Getkate, Simi Singh, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little

South Africa: Temba Bavuma(c),  Quinton de Kock(w), Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, George Linde, Kagiso Rabada, Lizaad Williams, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi