Captain William Porterfield confident Ireland can upset Pakistan in their maiden Test

Ireland will play Pakistan in a one-off Test on 11 May in Dublin.

Porterfield is Ireland's leading run scorer | Getty Images

Ireland captain William Porterfield said on Monday that his players have all attribute to beat Pakistan when they will play the Men in Green in their historic Test debut match on 11 May (Friday) in Dublin.

In June last year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded the Test status to Afghanistan and Ireland, confirming them as the 11th and 12th Test-playing nations.

However, the newly Test playing nations has to wait for their opportunity to play traditional format of the game, but now their wait has to come to an end, as Ireland is set to etch their name on the record book this week, while Afghanistan will play their maiden Test match against India in June.

Porterfield told The42, “You would never have thought this was going to happen. To host a Test match against Pakistan in front of thousands of Irish fans, and millions more around the world watching it. It's nice to think we've contributed to Cricket Ireland moving forward and when, as a team, we look back in years to come, there will be a lot of pride there.”

He further added, “But our job this week is to go out and perform and showcase why we have deserved this chance and why we belong at the top table. There's a game of cricket to be played and we're here to win it.”

Commenting on the Pakistan side, the Irish skipper noted, “They have a number of new players in their squad and there will be pressure on them too and all of our preparations have been about how best we can win the game. It will be difficult for them to come here in these conditions and with our attack; we can put them under a lot of pressure.”

On being asked about their chances against the heavily experienced Test side in a one-off match, Porterfield signed off by saying, “Can we win? There's absolutely no reason why we can't beat them and take them down and make history. That's the challenge for us now.”

 

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 08 May, 2018

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