Deadline: June 24, 2019 at 3 PM IST
Venue: The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Pitch and conditions
The match between India and Afghanistan at Southampton saw batsmen struggling to score runs. India, a batting-heavy unit, managed a mere 234 for 8. Of the top six batsmen, only Virat Kohli managed to score at a strike rate of over 100, and in the post-match press conference, he revealed that batsmen cannot play cross-batted shots.
NOTE: Pick your fantasy cricket team wisely.
Probable XI for Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Rubel Hossain/Mosaddek Hossain, Mustafizur Rahim
Mosaddek’s injury made way for Rubel. If the former is back to full fitness, he will be drafted in for Monday’s game.
Probable XI for Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib (c), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Passion meets passion
Bangladesh have produced more thrillers than any other team this World Cup. They spectacularly bounced back against New Zealand but lost the match by a mere 2 wickets. They, however, made up for it against West Indies, chasing down as many as 322 runs and that is not even the catch: they attained these many runs with 51 balls remaining. Their batsmen emulated a similar performance but fell tantalisingly short by 48 runs in a pursuit of a colossal 382-run target.
Afghanistan too were involved in close encounters, but none of the results went their way. The contest against India was the closest they came to emerging victorious, but the brilliance of Virat Kohli’s bowlers is tough for any team to match. And that’s been the story of these teams thus far: there is always a but. They win our hearts but lose in the scorecards.
Players to watch out for
Mohammad Nabi almost pulled off the biggest upset of the 2019 World Cup. He first dismissed KL Rahul and Virat Kohli and played a stunning innings of 55 against the most disciplined bowling attack.
Gulbadin Naib has been their top performer. In the absence of his injured openers, he came at the top and did a reasonable job. In addition to this, he has taken the most wickets (7) for them.
For Bangladesh, Mosaddek Hossain (9 wickets) Mustafizur Rahman (8 wickets) have done the bulk of the damage.
In the batting department, however, they have one too many performers. Shakib Al Hasan, with 425 runs in 5 matches, is the second-highest run-scorer of the edition. The likes of Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, and Liton Das too have been making runs at crucial intervals.
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