India vs Afghanistan Preview: TSR presents Probable Playing 11,Toss prediction and Weather report for Match 28 of Cricket World Cup 2019.
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India and Afghanistan have been a team of contrasts in the ongoing 2019 Cricket World Cup so far. While the former has not lost even a single game in the World Cup so far, the latter has not won a single match on the contrary.
The match however, is set to take place at The Rose Bowl in Southampton on June 22 (Saturday). Talking about the points table, India currently are placed at the 4th spot with 3 wins in 4 matches (one match against New Zealand washed-off due to rain). Afghanistan, on the other hand, are reeling at the bottom most of the table, with 5 losses out of 5 so far.
However, with the hope that we might witness a tough fighting spirit from Afghanistan (for which they are known for) we bring before you the match preview of the India vs Afghanistan match.
India vs Afghanistan Preview
Form Guide
India have had a dream run in the tournament so far. Their famous Top 3 batsmen have lived up to their expectations in the marquee tournament.
KL Rahul, who was promoted right up the order as Shikhar Dhawan’s replacement, did not disappoint at all as he scored a useful 57 off 78 against the match against Pakistan at Manchester. A couple of centuries from Rohit Sharma and an equal number of half-centuries by Virat Kohli so far, sums up the form Indian batting is in at the moment.
All-rounder @vijayshankar260 🗣️🗣️ on tackling Bumrah’s yorkers & playing at the World Cup stage #TeamIndia #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/IOUQBCOw8Q
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 21, 2019
In the bowling department, India were suffered a heavy blow after their second seamer in the team- Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was injured against Pakistan. He is set to miss the next two, or even three upcoming matches. The two wrist-spinners have also found their mojo back, thereby further strengthening the overall bowling line-up.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, have everything to ponder upon. The change in captaincy prior to the World Cup has not reaped any benifit so far. They still have not come up with a solid opening pair-which has been frequently changed since the departure of Mohammad Shahzad.
The return of former skipper Asghar Afghan has strengthened their batting order in the middle. The forms of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi has been a positive, but their low strike rate in the flat English decks are not helping the sides win matches.
In the bowling department, the famous spin trio have been off-colour so far. Rashid Khan, registered his worst figures in International cricket (9-0-110-0) in the previous match against England. The fast bowling too led by Dawlat Zadran have failed to trouble the batsmen even an iota.
Probable Playing 11
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar’s injury would mean that Mohammad Shami will be the man-to-man replacement for him. With Vijay Shankar fit after some pain due to a Bumrah yorker during the practice session, he will be the no.4 for India yet again.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, played just one specialist pacer in their bowling line-up, raising quite a many eyebrows. The result was that the English batsmen pummelled them by putting up 381 on the score board. They will perhaps, look to add Hammid Hassan in their playing 11.
Their batting order looks sorted,with their skipper himself happy with the batting performance against England.
India Playing 11
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (Wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.
Afghanistan Playing 11
Noor Ali Zadran, Gulbadin Naib (c), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Ikram Ali Khil, Dawlat Zadran, Hammid Hassan.
Pitch and Weather Report
The pitch at the Rose Bowl is a good track for batting, as evidenced by England and Pakistan scoring 273 and 361 at this ground last month during the bilteral ODI series. The previous match played at this venue witnessed the seamers pick up a total of 11 wickets at this surface. Hence, a fresh wicket might as well assist the pacers early on in the innings.
The weather at The Rose Bowl on the Match day, is predicted to be Mostly Sunny. There are only 10% chances of rain on Saturday with a 20 degree pleasant temperature prediction.
Toss Prediction
A bright day expected at Southampton tomorrow, might tempt both the teams to have a bat first first after winning the Toss.
