World Cup 2019: India look to maintain ascendancy against weak Afghanistan

Tags: Cricket World Cup 2019, India, Afghanistan

Published on: Jun 21, 2019

Team India will look to have some fun time out in the middle when they face a struggling Aghanistan in match number 28 of World Cup 2019 at Southampton on Saturday. While Afghanistan have lost all their five matches so far, India have won their three completed matches.

On form count, India are in great shape. However, injury concerns have dogged them in the last few games. First, it was Shikhar Dhawan, who was initially ruled out of the World Cup for a couple of weeks, and now totally. Bhuvneshwar Kumar too joined the injured list following the last game. There is question mark over Vijay Shankar too who was hit by a Jasprit Bumrah yorker during the nets.

Take out the injury concerns, and India are in fine form. The top order has been brilliant, with or without Shikhar Dhawan. KL Rahul stepped in to his shoes and did a credible job in the last game. Rohit Sharma has been absolutely sensational with two hundreds and a fifty while Virat Kohli too has done a credible job at number three without being at his outstanding best.

In the build up to the World Cup, India's bowling attack was considered to be among the most potent. And, while it hasn't been as lethal as expected, it has done a good job. The injured Kumar will be replaced by Mohammed Shami, who will get his much-deserved chance in the playing eleven. It remains to be seen whether there are any other changes in the playing eleven.

Afghanistan will need to try and put up some fight, which has been their USP in the last few years. They have just not been in their elements this year. Poor bowling and bad fielding saw them leak 398 runs against England. They did bat out 50 overs but apart from Hashmatullah Shahidi, who made a 100-ball 76, no one really threatened England. They will face an equally difficult task against India.

Squads

India: Virat Kohli (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav

Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (c), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah (wk), Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Ikram Ali Khil

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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