ICC WC 2023: Match 9: India vs Afghanistan: Preview & Prediction

The World Cup 2023 is heating up with high-scoring thrillers, and low-scoring classics to a one-sided affair we have seen it all in the first week of the showpiece event. The juggernaut comes back to the capital of India Delhi where host India will take on Afghanistan. The match promises to be a mouthwatering one as it has some big names involved in it including Virat Kohli KL Rahul Jaspreet Bumrah Kuldeep Yadav for India and Rashid Khan Mujeeb ur Rahman Mohammad Nabi for Afghanistan. It will be a test by spin for both teams and in this article, we will look at all the key aspects of the game.

India

The Men in Blue will be oozing with confidence after a hard-fought win against Australia after being reduced to 2-3 in two overs, The pair of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul played sensibly to take India over the line in a tense chase which was made easy by a classy partnership between the two experienced batter. The only area of concern for India would be the form of the top order which failed miserably against Australia which was evident from the fact that three of the top four batters were out without opening their account against the pace of Starc and Hazlewood as the letter bowled a double wicket maiden which included the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer. Yes, one can say that Iyer played a bad shot but the ball to Rohit was a wicket-taking delivery.

Captain Rohit would be happy with the work done by the bowlers as they picked up wickets at regular intervals and did not give any chance to the Aussies to make a comeback in the match. Talking about individual performance, the one name that stood out in the bowling department was that of Ravindra Jadeja. 

Players to watch out for

Ravindra Jadeja

The left-arm spinner was under a bit of pressure leading into the World Cup and it was important for his confidence to perform against Australia. He did so by picking up three crucial wickets in the middle overs which was the need of the hour as the pair of Labuschagne and Smith was looking set to take Australia to a decent score on a tough wicket which was assisting the spinners.

Kuldeep Yadav

Jadeja was well supported by Kuldeep Yadav who picked up two wickets including that of dangerous David Warner who was looking set to score a century and take Australia to a big score but was foxed by the spin of Kuldeep who took an easy return catch to break the partnership between Smith and Warner. 

Kuldeep’s re-emergence as a confident man has had a positive effect on India’s wicket-taking record in the middle overs since 2022.

Rohit Sharma

The Indian captain has had a peculiar record as a batter since 2022 at one hand he hasn’t been able to score big centuries something which is associated with him on the other he has been one of the batters with the highest strike rate in ODIs since 2022. We can expect him to score a big one against Afghanistan as he himself said before the World Cup that he wants to get back in his run-scoring form like he did during the 2019 World Cup in England.

Afghanistan

For Afghanistan, it is a chance to test themselves against a quality team like India. In the recent past, Afghanistan has challenged India in the ODI format evidence of which was the match in the 2019 World Cup in England where Afghanistan restricted India to a low score and ran them close and it took a hat trick from Shami to save the day for India. India would not take their opponents lightly given the players that the Afghan team has at their disposal.

Players to watch out for

Mujeeb ur Rahman

Afghanistan’s specialty is their leg spinners they have a lot of leg spinners waiting to represent the nation. Talking about Mujeeb he is one of the rare spinners who can bowl with the new ball in the powerplay. Although he has not taken a lot of wickets but what he gives to the captain is control at the top, which is an important thing for any team.

Rashid Khan

He is a proven match-winner for Afghanistan and has the experience of playing in India during the IPL. 

He is one of the most important players for Afghanistan along with former captain Mohammad Nabi and the team would rely on the duo to deliver for them.

Ibrahim Zadran

The Afghan opener has been the best batter for his team over the last year with 756 runs from 14 innings at an average of 58. He along with Rahmanullah Gurbaz has formed a solid opening pair for the Afghan team. One of his biggest strengths is his solid technique which allows him to control the innings while Gurbaz attacks from the other end.  

Squads

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav

Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq

Match Details

Date and Time: 11th October 2023 at 2:00 PM IST

Venue: Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium, Delhi

India Probable Playing 11

Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin/Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Afghanistan Probable Playing 11:

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.

Pitch Report

Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium is a batting pitch. The batters will get much assistance in playing big shots. Bowlers will not get much assistance in the bowling sessions; Batters will enjoy batting with less amount of deviation and good bounce. It will make batting easy in the later innings after the pitch gets older.

Weather Report

The temperature will hover around 35°C with 42% humidity. Winds at a speed of 11km/h are expected. Cloudy weather is expected during the match, this may help pacers with movement. There is no chance of rain during the play.

Image Credit: OutlookIndia