(Cricket news) India are coming off two very heavy defeats and have almost dented their hopes of qualification, the only way India can keep their campaign alive is by winning against Afghanistan. For Afghanistan they are coming off a massive win over Namibia and have a very superior net run rate, it is a testament to the pedigree of Afghanistan's T20 team that, despite the continuous rumblings, resignations, and its ramifications, they are a force in the shortest format, whose players' specialised skills are in demand on the franchise circuit.
India will most likely continue with Ishan Kishan up top, even though Suryakumar Yadav is fit Ravi Shastri would want a right-left opening combination. The Indian batsmen in this tournament have been a big disappointment, sometimes taking too long to get settled or just going hard up top, the team management need to find a solution especially facing the spin trio of Mujeeb, Rashid and Nabi. The spinners for India have been economical but haven’t really looked threatening to pick up wickets, the team think tank might consider bringing in Ashwin in place of Varun Chakravarthy because of his subtle variations that he brings with him. The Afghanistan openers go hard in the powerplay and at the death as the Indian fast bowlers need to make inroads into their batting lineup and expose their relatively inexperienced middle order.
Afghanistan will be high on confidence after steamrolling over Namibia, the Afghanis will be forced to replace the retired Asghar Afghan with Sharafuddin Ashraf or left arm seamer Fareed Ahmed following the success of Shaheen Afridi and Trent Boult in the first two games against India. Rashid Khan will be the key man to watch out for and will be central to the outcome of this tactical battle, Rashid Khan has dismissed KL Rahul thrice, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya twice without giving away much. Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan have a good record against Rashid but have been dismissed twice each by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Naveen Ul Haq has been the find of the tournament for Afghanistan, his smart variations along with his unorthodox action is causing the opposition batsman a lot of problems and the same is expected against India.
Head to head: India 2 – 0 Afghanistan (Both the games were played at T20 World Cups in 2010 and 2012)
Pitch and weather report: Chasing sides have won six out of the 8 games at this venue in this World Cup. Afghanistan like batting first and then apply the spin choke in conjunction with scoreboard pressure but considering India’s frailty batting first, Afghanistan might rethink their strategy. The Abu Dhabi venue has been the best pitch for batting as batsmen tend to get a lot of runs on the bigger side of the ground. The temperature is going to hover around 32 degrees as the temperatures will drop as the evening progresses, dew can again be a factor.
Interesting facts:
- With an average score of 51, Afghanistan have been the best batting side in PowerPlays during this Super 12 phase.
- India have just hit three boundaries in 16 overs of spin this tournament and scored their runs at a rate of 4.75
- In 18 T20s (IPL + T20Is) in 2021, Hardik Pandya's strike-rate has dipped to a low 118.43 with a best of 40*
- Rashid Khan dominates KL Rahul in T20 cricket: 18 runs, 30 balls, three dismissals
- Surprisingly, in 2021, fast bowlers (76 matches, 308 wickets, 8 economy rate) have performed better than spinners (76 matches, 128 wickets, 7.6 economy rate) at this venue.
Also read: T20 WC: Beleaguered India up against gritty Afghans; Kohli faces big Ashwin question
Probable XI for India:
1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 KL Rahul, 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Varun Chakravarthy/Ashwin, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Probable XI for Afghanistan:
1 Hazratullah Zazai, 2 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 3 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi/Usman Ghani, 5 Mohammad Nabi(capt), 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Karim Janat/Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Hamid Hassan/Fareed Ahmed.
