ABOUT THE MATCH

Scotland will be taking on Singapore in the opening game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019. This Group A fixture is scheduled to be played on October 18 at the ICC Academy in Dubai.

TOSS PREDICTION

Twelve out of the last thirteen completed T20 internationals played at this ground have been won by the side batting first. So the toss-winning team in this match will be tempted to bat first.

PITCH AND CONDITIONS

A bright and sunny weather has been forecast for Friday with almost no chance of rain. Temperature is expected to be between 31 and 35 degrees Celsius while humidity should be around 50% during the match.

The pitch at the ICC Academy in Dubai has generally been a good one for batting. However, it does tend to slow down a bit during the second half. 152 is the average first-innings score at this ground in T20Is.

PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Scotland

Kyle Coetzer (c), George Munsey, Matthew Cross, Michael Leask, Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Craig Wallace (wk), Tom Sole, Adrian Neill, Hamza Tahir, Safyaan Sharif

PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Singapore

Rohan Rangarajan, Surendran Chandramohan, Tim David, Aritra Dutta, Manpreet Singh (wk), Janak Prakash, Navin Param, Sidhant Singh, Selladore Vijayakumar, Amjad Mahboob (c), Vinoth Baskaran

MATCH PREVIEW

Scotland

  • Scotland’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier looks very similar to the one that was named for last month’s T20I tri-series in Ireland that also featured Netherlands.
  • Josh Davey, who missed the tri-series due to his commitments with Somerset, has returned.
  • Kyle Coetzer will be leading the team’s 15-man squad and could open the batting alongside George Munsey.
  • Scotland has blown hot and cold this year in the T20 format having won four and lost three out of seven matches.
  • They won the Oman Quadrangular T20I Series in February that also involved Netherlands, Ireland along with hosts Oman. Scotland’s previous T20I assignment came last month at the Ireland Tri-Nation T20I Series where they won two out of their four fixtures
Singapore
  • Singapore has named a 15-member squad for this upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier.
  • The Amjad Mahboob-led side strikes a fine balance of experience and youth. However, the presence of a few teenagers in the squad will put additional pressure on the more senior players.
  • Rohan Rangarajan and Surendran Chandramohan are likely to open the batting while the skipper along with Vinoth Baskaran could form the new-ball pair.
  • Singapore has played six T20 internationals this year out of which they have won four and lost two.
  • They beat Qatar, Malaysia and Nepal to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Region Final held at home in the month of July.
  • Singapore, however, could not win the recently concluded home Twenty20 Tri-Series but they managed to cause an upset by defeating Zimbabwe.

PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:

Scotland is coming into this tournament as the highest-ranked T20I team among its competitors. Scotland has a lot more experience in their side and we expect them to begin their campaign with a win.

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