After witnessing their second defeat in ICC T20I World Cup 2021, the Men in Blue will now lock horns with Afghanistan in a crucial encounter of the ICC T201 World Cup 2021 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. India lost by 8 wickets against New Zealand on Sunday after being hammered by arch-rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets in their opening fixture of the T20 World Cup.
On the other hand, Afghanistan will be high on confidence as they have won two out of their first three games. Mohammad Nabi-led registered big wins against Scotland and Namibia by 130 runs and 62 runs respectively. They also gave a tough fight to Pakistan and almost pulled off an upset before eventually losing the close encounter by five-wicket. They currently hold the second spot in Group 2.
Match Details
Match – India vs Afghanistan
Venue – Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Time – 07:30 PM IST, 02:00 PM GMT
Where to watch live – Star Sports Network
Pitch Report
The pitch in Abu Dhabi has been on the slower side, fast bowlers tend to get some movement initially but overall the wicket has been playing neutral. For fast bowlers back of a length and slower balls (variations) have been the key so far. Batting second should be the way forward as 3/4 matches so far have been won by the chasing teams.
Average first innings score: 135-140
Record of Chasing teams: Won – 3, Lost – 1, Tied – 0 (in Super 12s)
Team News
For India, it’ll be interesting to see if Ashwin gets a place in the Playing XI in place of Varun Chakravarthy. A lot will depend on the availability of Suryakumar Yadav. If fit and available then, Surya is likely to replace his Ishan Kishan in the line-up.
Asghar Afghan has retired from international cricket and played his last match against Namibia. So, Mohammed Nabi will be forced to make a change to his XI. Mujeeb ur Rahman is likely to return after an injury in place of Karim Janat while Usman Ghani could replace Afghan as a batter.
Predicted Playing XIs
India
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Afghanistan
Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Hamid Hassan, Naveen-ul-Haq,Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Ind vs Afg: Head-to-head
In T20 World Cups
Matches- 2, India– 2, Afghanistan – 0
| Winner | Margin | Opposition | Ground | Venue | Match Date |
| India | 23 runs | v Afghanistan | Colombo | Sri Lanka | 19 Sep 2012 |
| India | 7 wickets | v Afghanistan | Gros Islet | West Indies | 1 May 2010 |
Key Players
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, Naveen Ul Haq
Semi-finals qualification scenario for India
India’s only chance now is to win their three remaining games with a big margin. And then hope that New Zealand and Afghanistan lose at least one of their remaining games. Most likely, the result of the Afghanistan vs New Zealand game will decide India’s fate. If Afghanistan beat New Zealand then NRRs could come into play. Currently, India’s NRR is down to -1.609.
