Pakistan and Afghanistan will face each other in this World Cup League match on Monday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai. After two consecutive defeats (India, Australia), Babar Azam-led Pakistan team need to win this match to keep their semi-final spot alive.
Currently, this team is fifth in the table with 4 points and a net run rate of 0.456. A concern for Pakistan is its batting failure against spin. Afghanistan have star spinners Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The battle between the Pakistan batsmen and the Afghanistan spinners will be seen today. So far the team’s top scorer Mohammad Rizwan along with Saud Sakil and Iftikhar have performed well. If they tackle the Afghanistan spinners well, the match is likely to go in Pakistan’s favour.
In bowling, its left-arm fast bowler Sahin Shah Afridi took 5 wickets against Australia in the last match. Its spinners Mohammad Nawas, Zahav Khan and Usma Mir have not been able to give their best. On the other hand, Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz is performing well. The team expects more runs from his bat. Along with him, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai and Hasmatullah Shahidi do well. So it could be difficult for Pakistan to stop Afghanistan.
Both the countries have faced each other 7 times in the history of ODIs and Pakistan is leading in 7-0. The team needs a good score from Babar, who has not given a noticeable performance in this World Cup.
Pakistan squad:
Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usma Mir, Hasan Ali, Sahin Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
Afghanistan squad:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hasmatullah Sahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazlhaq Farooqi.