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In his first World Cup press conference, Heshmatullah Shahidi spoke enthusiastically about the capabilities of his Afghan team. Even outside of that, the talent available to them is incredible. There’s a 23-year-old in Cunnar who, if not for the great Bill Ponsford, would hold the title of fastest cricketer to 1,000 first-class runs. However, this type of record can sometimes indicate a lack of quality in opposition. In short, this has been Afghanistan’s problem in the longer formats.
Although their stars are coveted on the T20 circuit, their chances of elevating their one-day game are few and far between. Afghanistan played just 29 matches between the last World Cup and this tournament. Even if we go back to the first international match they ever played, their tally stands at just 153. There are individual players in the Indian team they will face on Wednesday who have played almost twice as many matches.
Experience is how hitters learn when to go all out and when not to, when to minimize risk, absorb pressure and just trust in their ability to make up lost ground. Experience is also how bowlers know that it is important to keep hitting the same spot on the pitch over and over again. Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja embodied this against Australia. No one in the Afghanistan team was able to do anything close to that in their match against a close opponent.
ODIs require that you maintain your nerve and discipline for a much longer period than T20s do. The best place to learn this is bilateral cricket. But Afghanistan doesn’t really have that. What they do have – what they have been able to do since 2012 – is consistent World Cup appearances. It has become the only meaningful way to test themselves. India is the ideal model that Afghanistan strives to achieve, and tomorrow they will see how far they have come and how far they can go.
India WLWWW (last five ODIs completed, most recent first)
Afghanistan LLLLL
In the spotlight – Rohit Sharma and Rehmanullah Gurbaz
Any team in the world would love to have him Rohit Sharma At the top of the batting order. But he himself doesn’t seem entirely satisfied with where he’s at. It got into his head that it could be more than that. Over the last two years in ODIs, he has been batting them better than running with the ball: 114 from eight innings in 2022 at an average of 41 and 109 from 16 innings in 2023 at an average of 47. He’s been showing that he may have had an impact in his antler column – he has only two of the last three years – but it appears to have other benefits. The only team that has managed to score faster than India (95.65) between the last World Cup and this tournament is England (98.19).
Rahman Allah Gurbaz He will enjoy the conditions in which this game will be played. Delhi has offered the freedom to bat across the line of the ball and there are not many who do it better than him. At the head of the Afghan regime is a striker who sets the agenda and has the entire field available to plunder. It wasn’t long before he was outshining teammates Rashid and Noor Ahmed in the Indian Premier League, scoring 81 off just 39 balls.
Team News: Thakur for Ashwin?
Both Rohit and his coach Rahul Dravid have been fairly frank about how important it is for the team to adapt to different conditions as they progress through the World Cup. Chennai were spin-friendly so they opted for a bowling attack to suit that. Delhi won’t be, so it is very likely that they will ask R Ashwin to step aside in favor of Shardul Thakur. Shubman Gill is still recovering from dengue fever and did not travel with the team.
India (Possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer/Suryakumar Yadav, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah 11 Muhammad Siraj
Afghanistan fielded their best team in Dharamsala and their captain said they were beaten because they had a bad day. Shahidi could support the same formation to perform better against India.
Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Azmatullah Omarzai, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Naveen-ul-Haq, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Pitch and conditions
It was the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium where World Cup records fell, with South Africa and Sri Lanka having the highest match totals, while Aiden Markram hit the fastest century.
“As a team we are ready to do it. This is something we have been talking about in our group – whoever fits the circumstances should come in and do the job for us.”
India captain Rohit Sharma He says he’s ready to play horses
“We have a good bowling attack, but only one section can’t win games. You have to score runs for that, to win the game.”
Captain Afghanistan Hashmatullah Shahidi He wants more from himself and the rest of the batting order
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