IND vs AFG Preview – India look to improve their form ahead of mega-clash

India will continue their World Cup 2023 campaign as they face Afghanistan in their second game on Wednesday, October 11 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. India are coming into the fixture with a win against Australia by six wickets in their opening game in Chennai.

Indian spinners shone with the ball in the spin-friendly conditions of Chennai as they bundled out Australia for 199. In the chase, they lost the prized scalps of Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan for ducks. However, Virat Kohli (85 off 116) and Kl Rahul (97* off 115) played heroic knocks to take their team home. The Men in Blue will look to continue their winning run in the upcoming fixture to prepare themselves for the all-important clash against Pakistan.

On the other hand, Afghanistan lost their first game against Bangladesh by six wickets as they were bundled out for 156 batting first. The Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side will be desperate for a win against India to kick-start their campaign after a forgettable start.

Pitch Report

The results at the Arun Jaitely Stadium have been equally in favour of teams both batting and bowling first with each having 13 wins to their name while one game has been abandoned. However, out of the last six matches, five have been won by teams batting first. The average first-innings score in the last five games has been 260 while the highest target chased in the history of the venue is 278 by India vs Sri Lanka way back in 1982.

The recent game at the venue between South Africa and Sri Lanka was a high-scoring affair with South Africa posting 428/5 batting first. The surface is expected to be the same in the upcoming fixture as well and the captain winning the toss will look to bat first to make the most of the good batting conditions.