Tired! I won’t lie,” KL Rahul remarked the morning after India‘s sapping start to the World Cup. The keeper-bat was chatting to Virat Kohli in an informal setting for bcci.tv, the pair recollecting events from their backs-to-the-wall rescue act against Australia. There’s only so much time for reflection in a 10-team round-robin league phase and 24 hours later, India find themselves on the other side of the Vindhyas, preparing to double down on the happy high of a tough win.
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On paper it would seem like Afghanistan could offer just the kind of tempered re-centering Rohit Sharma will want for his team between the challenging start in Chennai and the emotionally-charged weekend waiting on the other side. This is not a slight on Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men or an assertion that they cannot uppend the established order. More importantly, the cold truth is that this game is worth exactly the same number of points as the previous and the next one.
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Even in the longer 50-over format, which can stretch the gulf between two sides with disparate talent pools and allow enough time for the cream to eventually rise to the top, Afghanistan are not a team to be taken lightly. They made it to this tournament without needing a qualifier, won a bilateral series in Bangladesh — where India have lost on each of their last two visits — and were, perhaps, a proper understanding of NRR rules away from replacing eventual finalists Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup Super Four.
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They have, however, not been the same in big tournament play. It hasn’t helped that their first two ODI World Cups have come in Australia and England, conditions less suited to their spin-centric style. However, when the schedule for this tournament was drawn up, Hashmatullah Shahidi will likely have cast an opportunistic eye on this fixture in Delhi with potential for Afghanistan’s long-due seminal World Cup moment.
There may be a poetic parallel to it too. India themselves got their second World Cup match win in their third tournament against the alpha of that era and never looked back. In that sense, Afghanistan may even be a little ahead of the curve. They came very close four years ago to tripping up India on a sluggish wicket in Southampton.
But for them to draw a line under their World Cup inadequacies and go one better this time around, they’ll have to come up with something far better than the first impression they served up last week.
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India vs Afghanistan
Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi
What to expect: A warm day in the national capital and good conditions for batting. The re-laid surface in Delhi sports a generous smattering of grass. Even if it is not the same strip, it looks a lot like the pitch that saw an aggregate of 754 runs, the fastest World Cup 100 and the highest total in men’s ODI World Cup history. Teams batting first have won five of the last six ODIs here dating back to 2013. But chasing a par total shouldn’t be overly difficult.
Team Watch:
India
Mohammed Shami, who took a hat-trick in this fixture four years ago, is an option on this surface, but to pick him India will have to be willing to sacrifice their batting depth after a not so convincing start against Australia. To that extent, they may consider bringing in Shardul Thakur instead. Shubman Gill is still not available again following his hospitalisation.
Tactics & Strategy:
Mindful of Afghanistan’s stronger spin attack, India could likely take the attack to the quick bowlers. The onus will be on Ishan Kishan to pull his weight in light of the uncertainty around Gill.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Afghanistan
Despite defeat in their opener, Afghanistan wouldn’t want to tinker with their combination just yet although a left-arm wrist spinner like Noor Ahmad, with experience of offers good value against a predominantly right-heavy line-up.
Tactics & Strategy:
Fazalhaq Farooqi has 19 wickets in the PowerPlay since the start of 2022, behind only Mohammed Siraj (32) and Matt Henry (20). His left-arm angle against a top-order, that has had issues with it in the past, could be useful in paving the way for Afghanistan to restrict India.
Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Did you know?
Left-arm finger spinners have picked 21 wickets in the first six matches at 26.52 in this World Cup.
Since his comeback, Bumrah has not gone wicketless even once and in the six ODIs he has conceded his runs at an average of 4.89 per over.
Among members of India’s squad, Jadeja has the most wickets in ODIs against Afghanistan [7 at 10.85] and in Delhi [9 at 20.77]
What they said:
“You know, we play better spin in the nets sessions. Rashid, Nabi, Noor and Mujeeb, we play them every day. So, I think our team is far better in playing spin bowling. So that game [vs Bangladesh] we struggled but you can’t say that you are not good enough [based] on one game.” – Hashmatullah Shahidi on facing an even more potent spin attack than that of Bangladesh’s to whom they lost 6 for 62.
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur
Afghanistan Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Rahman, Riaz Hassan, Noor Ahmad
