India will lock horns with Afghanistan in the ongoing Asia Cup-Super 4 game. This will be the fifth in the Super 4 stage. India who has suffered losses in each of their two Super Four games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively are virtually out of the tournament while Afghanistan too doesn’t have much chance to progress to the finals.
Hence both sides will be playing for pride in this game and would be looking to win this match to end their Asia Cup campaign on a high. On paper, India looks like a formidable team even after losing out a number of players to injuries.
But games are not won on paper and as we already witnessed in this competition, where India are firm favourites to win all games and qualify for the finals but suffered a five-wicket loss to Pakistan in their Super 4 clash and then followed that up by losing to Sri Lanka by six wickets.
Afghanistan has had the same fate just like their opponent India. They started the tournament with a bang winning their opening game by crushing Sri Lanka in the group stage match and followed that up with another win against Bangladesh. But cometh the Super 4 stage, and the Afghans succumbed to the Sri Lankan challenge and now would hope to win their maiden T20I clash against India.
What have they done so far?
India lost to Sri Lanka in their previous game by a margin of six wickets
India’s Asia Cup campaign began with a five-wicket victory over archrival Pakistan. After opting to bowl first, India limited the Men in Green to 147 runs before chasing the target down in the final over thanks to an all-round performance from Hardik Pandya.
Following that victory, the Men in Blue defeated Hong Kong by a score of 40 runs. After losing the toss, India batted first and started slowly, but thanks to a blitzkrieg by Suryakumar Yadav and a strong performance by Virat Kohli, India posted 192 in their allotted 20 overs. Despite putting up a little resistance, Hong Kong succumbed to the Indian challenge, scoring only 152 in 20 overs.
However, the Men in Blue suffered their first defeat in the competition when they were defeated by Pakistan in their first Super Four game. In that game, Pakistan asked India to bat first, and despite a strong start, India could only muster 181 in 20 overs, falling at least 10-15 runs short of the par score. Pakistan got off to a slow start, but thanks to a valiant effort from Mohammad Rizwan and a counter-attacking innings from Mohammad Nawaz, Pakistan won by five wickets.
India also went on to lose their next game as the Men in Blue suffered a six-wicket loss against the Lankan Lions on Tuesday. Again, being asked to bat first India could muster only 173 runs in their allotted 20 overs thanks to a fifty from skipper Rohit Sharma. Sri Lanka’s reply was strong as both the openers registered fifty and helped the Lions to virtually guarantee a place in the finals of the 2022 Asia Cup.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2022 opener. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 105 in 19.4 overs with Fazalhaq Farooqi taking three wickets in 3.4 overs. Chasing 106, Afghanistan reached 106 for two in 10.1 overs with Hazratullah Zazai smacking an unbeaten knock of 37 runs off 28 balls, in Dubai last week.
In their next game, Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets to qualify for the Super 4 stage of Asia Cup 2022, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah last week. Chasing a target of 128 runs, Afghanistan reached 131 for three in 18.3 overs with Najibullah Zadran smacking an unbeaten knock of 43 runs off 17 balls.
Initially, three-wicket hauls by Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan helped Afghanistan restrict Bangladesh to 127 for seven in 20 overs. Mosaddek Hossain top-scored with an unbeaten knock of 48 runs off 31 balls.
In the last match against Sri Lanka, Afghanistan’s top-order batting line-up gave a solid start to the team. Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a fiery knock of 84 runs from 45 balls where he could manage to strike a ball with a rate of 186.66. The middle-order batters failed to convert that good start into a big total as the team ended up putting 175 runs on the board.
While defending the total of 176 runs, despite Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s economical spell of 2 wickets for 30 runs in his 4 overs, no other bowler could manage to put pressure on opponents and Sri Lanka chased down the target on the 1st ball of the 20th over. Middle-order batting line-up and death over bowling are the two main issues Afghanistan is facing in Asia Cup 2022.
Head to Head Record
This will be the fourth time that India and Afghanistan are playing each other in the T20I format with the former winning each of those encounters played between the two sides.
Meanwhile, this will be just the second encounter played between the two sides in the United Arab Emirates after India defeated the Afghans by 66 runs in last year’s men’s T20 World Cup clash played in Abu Dhabi. This will also be the two sides’ first T20I encounter in the Asia Cup.
Key Players
Virat Kohli has arguably been India’s best batter in the current Asia Cup
Virat Kohli (India): The star cricketer has arguably been India’s best batter in the Asia Cup so far. In fact, he is the third-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 154 runs from four matches behind Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan (192 runs) and Sri Lanka’s Kusal Medis (155 runs). The former India captain also scored two consecutive half-centuries, finally putting an end to criticisms regarding his worth within India’s T20 setup.
Though his 122.22 strike rate in the tournament still feels a little low for the shortest format, the circumstances under which he batted need to be taken into consideration. Against Afghanistan, India would be hopeful that the 33-year-old continues his good form.
Rashid Khan (Afghanistan): Every top T20 team yearns to have Rashid Khan on the side. Rashid is the best T20 spinner in the world at the moment. He is Afghanistan’s highest-ranked T20I bowler with a world ranking of five.
Rashid with his leg spin has the ability to bamboozle the best batsmen in the world. Afghanistan will be banking heavily on Rashid to deliver the goods for them.
Predicted Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (WK), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (C), Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Prediction
India suffered defeat in their first two Super Four clashes, going down to a five-wicket loss with Pakistan and a six-wicket loss with Sri Lanka. That was a tough pill to swallow for the Indians who will be desperate to respond here in this clash with Afghanistan, knowing pride is at stake.
The Afghans themselves lost against Sri Lanka in their first game of the Super Four but must improve if they are to bounce back in the tournament. However, India has won the past three T20I matchups between the two teams and with them knowing their pride is on the line, they should prove to be too good in this encounter.