IND vs AFG Live Score: After a brilliant win against Australia, India is all set to face Afghanistan in their second fixture of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 to be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi. India is coming in this clash after defeating Australia by 6 wickets in their opening clash. While Afghanistan is walking into this clash on the back of a defeat at the hands of Bangladesh they will hope to recreate history by defeating the Indian team.
IND vs AFG Teams Preview
India Preview
India kick-started their World Cup campaign on a winning note against Australia. Their spinners shattered Australia’s middle order to restrict their innings to 199. Benching Shami was proven the right decision as R Jadeja & Co did the job for India. They rattled Australia’s lineup & scalped 6 wickets. In reply, India suffered a huge blow by losing their opening partners for fuck. But Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97*) scored brilliant half-centuries to win the game for India by 6 wickets. They will aim to continue their good run against Afghanistan as well.
For India, R Jadeja who returned with three wickets for 28 runs will be the bowler to watch out for. He has scored 7 wickets against Afghanistan in two fixtures & will be India’s biggest bet against Afghanistan. While the pace attack will be handled by Bumrah & Siraj.
In the batting order, Ishan Kishan will continue to play the opener role along with Rohit in the absence of ill Shubman Gill. However, there are chances that Gill will return for the IND vs PAK fixture. In his absence, the onus of scoring runs is automatically on Virat Kohli who has scored 85 runs for three wickets down. He along with KL Rahul helped India to chase the target of 200 runs with ease. KL Rahul is playing astoundingly after his comeback fixture. He has so far scored 405 runs in 7 games after his comeback from injury. The duo will be India’s biggest bet against the Afghan clan. India’s team looks settled with the presence of all-rounders Jadeja & Pandya in the clan.
Key Players: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli
India Predicted Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Afghanistan Preview
Coming to Afghanistan they have already lost their first game of the marquee event against Bangladesh by 6 wickets. Batting first, The Afghan clan could only score 156 runs on board after their opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz dispersed after scoring 47 runs. Afghanistan failed to tackle Bangladeshi spinners in the middle order of the fixture losing 8 wickets for 44 runs. The Afghani bowlers gave a fiery start by sending Bangladesh’s openers back to the pavilion within 5 overs. However, they failed to continue the momentum & get going in the middle overs as well. As a result, they lost the fixture by 6 wickets against Bangla Tigers. Heading into this clash they will aim to outclass India & register their first win of the tournament.
For Afghanistan, Gurbaz & Zadran will be tasked to provide the team with an ideal opening. Both have scored 47 runs for the first wicket in the first fixture. Gurbaz has scored 423 runs in 12 matches at an average of 23.25. While Zadran is Afghanistan’s leading run-scorer with 500 runs at an average of above 45. He will be the player to watch out against India. Afghanistan will aim to address the issue of depth in its lineup. Rahmat Shah has so far played some decent knocks for Afghanistan & can further anchor their innings as well. Mohammed Nabi will be their key batter in the middle order with two fifties against India in 3 outings. He is the leading run-scorer against India & team’s biggest bet in the middle order.
In the bowling order, Fazalhaq Farooqi is the player to watch out for with 16 wickets in 12 ODI games he has played so far. The form of Rashid Khan is a major concern for the Afghan clan as he could scalp just 9 wickets in the last 9 ODIs & need to get the fire back. Afghanistan’s bowlers have done well against Men in Blue in the last few fixtures. They will hope to capitalize on it in this fixture ahead.
Key Players: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Afghanistan Predicted Playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan,Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Azmatullah Omarzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
IND vs AFG Pitch & Weather Conditions
The pitch at Arun Jaitley Stadium is batter-friendly as batters can make strokes easily & play some beautiful shots. The pitch provides good bounce & provides assistance to bowlers. However, as the match progresses the spinners could find assistance on this pitch.
Toss to bat or bowl
In 29 ODIs so far, the results produced as the same favoring the chasing teams. As chasing teams have won 14 matches here. Thus looking at the stats the team winning the toss should opt to bat first.
IND vs AFG Winning prediction
India has won 7 out of 10 fixtures played at Arun Jaitley Stadium. They have unbeaten records at home against Afghanistan. On the other hand, the Afghan clan has lost 15 fixtures in ODI World Cup Games. They have a poor record against India which makes the hosts favorite to win this clash.
Prediction: We predict India to win this clash
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