Afghanistan has played 2 matches, one versus Scotland and the other one against Pakistan. They won comfortably by 130 runs against Scotland while they narrowly lost by 5 wickets against Pakistan. On the other hand, Namibia won the only match they have played so far in the Super 12 stage which was against Scotland.
Namibia, a country located to the north-west of South Africa qualified to play the World T20 for the first time ever by finishing in top 4 of group standings in 2019 World T20 qualifier. With that, they also got assured of automatic qualification for the subsequent 2022 World T20 to be held in Australia. In the Super 12 qualifier stage, Namibia got defeated by Sri Lanka but they then turned around their campaign by beating Netherlands and then the favourites, Ireland to advance to the Super-12 stage.
This match is also the first time that these two teams are meeting at the international stage in any format as they have never played against each other.
Key Performers
For Afghanistan, it is undoubtedly the leg-spinner Rashid Khan who is carrying his good form from IPL. He has the highest number of wickets in T20s since the start of 2020. He took the key wickets of settled batsmen in Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez in the last game against Pakistan. Mujeeb Ur Rehman has been in good form in recent times, he picked up a match-winning fifer against Scotland and was in total control against Pakistan where he took the wicket of in-form batsman Mohammad Rizwan.
For Namibia, David Wiese is the heartbeat. The team looks at him for advice or suggestion even though he is not the captain as he has a vast experience of playing franchise T20 cricket as well as international experience of representing South Africa. Namibia has 3 left-arm pacers Ruben Trumpelmann, Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit, who can trouble the Afghanistan middle-order.
Pitch Report
The pitch at Abu Dhabi is a two-paced surface hence batsmen may find it difficult to play their shots. Batsmen will have to be patient as strike rotation is going to be the most important aspect in this match. To judge the pace of the ball becomes difficult here for the batsmen as some of the deliveries hold up while some come along with the expected pace. The pacers are most likely to get more wickets with the sort of help from the surface. The dew factor wouldn't play a huge role as there will be no or minimal dew. So, expect some bowling prowess from both the teams under the hot, scorching sun!
Expected Playing XI
Namibia: - Craig Williams, Zane Green (wk), Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, Michael van Lingen, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Pikky Ya France, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz
Afghanistan: - Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Asghar Afghan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Dream XI Fantasy Team
