Ireland and Afghanistan were beaten by the weather as their T20 World Cup clash at the MCG was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The Group 1 fixture was hit by rain in Melbourne, a familiar experience for an Afghanistan team who suffered the same fate when their match against New Zealand at the same ground went the same way on Wednesday.

The no-result outcome left Afghanistan bottom of the group and at least briefly nudged Ireland up to second place, ahead of the scheduled match between England and Australia at the same ground later on Friday.

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said: "Most of the players are disappointed to not be playing in such a fantastic ground."

Ireland skipper Andy Balbirnie, whose side upset England in their second game, added: "We'd played some good cricket the other night and were looking forward to this fixture against a team we know pretty well. We can't do anything about the weather. We've just got two more games to give it our best to try to get into the semis."