CWC 2019: PAK vs AFG Preview – Rising Pakistan eye hat-trick of wins
After having won only one of their first five encounters, Pakistan have redeemed themselves in the tournament with successive wins over South Africa and New Zealand. Alongside Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, they are a strong contender for stealing the fourth place in the points table from England. Pakistan are unbeaten against Afghanistan in ODIs and another win here takes them closer to semi-finals.
Pakistan exhibited their A game against the Blackcaps at Birmingham. Shaheen Afridi starred with a stunning spell of 3/28 in 10 overs. Babar Azam was all-class in the chase and Haris Sohail showed his potential with a steady knock. All in all, it was a satisfying win for Pakistan. The green team will like to continue their winning run and seal third consecutive win of the tournament.
Also read: Are Cornered Tigers coming back to lift the World Cup?
Afghanistan have a myriad of problems. Their strike-bowler Rashid Khan has been average. Their bowling has not delivered the goods they promised. The batting hasn’t been eye-catching either. The side is also struggling with their internal turmoils as the news of Aftab Alam’s send-off suggests. Afghanistan’s only promising performances so far was against India. They have already been knocked out from the tournament. This game allows another chance for them to put up a solid show.
Match Info
Pakistan vs Afghanistan, 36th Match
Headingley, Leeds (03:00 PM IST)
Head-to-Head
This will be the first World Cup meeting of these two teams. Pakistan and Afghanistan have played three ODIs against each other so far and Pakistan has dominated the younger team with three wins. In the 2018 encounter, Afghans were closing on a win when Shoaib Malik sealed a three-wicket victory for Pakistan.
Team News
Pakistan: Against New Zealand in the last match, Pakistan went in with an unchanged playing XI. They are likely to continue with the winning combination. Three-pronged pace attack and the spin duo of Shadab-Imad is in good form while Pakistan batting unit has been solid.
Afghanistan: This team has been unpredictable throughout the World Cup. They dropped Hazratullah Zazai and Aftab Alam to accommodate Dawlat Zadran and Samiullah Shenwari. Alam has been sent back home due to a breach of the code of conduct. Although Afghans lost to Bangladesh by 62 runs, they may well continue with the same eleven.
Key players
Babar Azam (Pakistan): Without a doubt, Babar Azam is currently Pakistan’s best batsman. The right-hander has scored 333 runs in six matches so far. He has crossed the fifty-mark thrice, one of which was the century against New Zealand. Dominating the off-side, Azam has scored 49.5% runs through the point region. He will be looking to add more runs in his kitty against the struggling Afghan bowling attack.
Gulbadin Naib (Afghanistan): Afghan captain has been their best player in the tournament. Naib is the second-best batsman of the team and the best performing bowler so far. At the opening spot, he has played a good hand. With the ball, Naib has nine wickets. He has employed the leg cutters efficiently and has eight of his wickets from them.
Probable XI
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, F Zaman, B Azam, M Hafeez, H Sohail, S Ahmed (wk-c), I Wasim, S Khan, W Riaz, M Amir, S Afridi
Afghanistan: G Naib (c), R Shah, H Shahidi, A Afghan, M Nabi, N Zadran, S Shinwari, Ikram Ali Khil (w), R Khan, D Zadran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
