Pakistan takes on Afghanistan in the 22nd match of the ICC CWC 2023 today at Chennai. Pakistan and Afghanistan have featured in some close contests off late and this could be a mouth watering clash.
Pakistan: Pakistan started with two wins on the trot but lost two back to back matches. They managed to beat Netherlands in their first game but not that convincingly as they would have liked to. They chased 345 against Sri Lanka to win the match, which was the highest Target successfully chased in World Cups ever. They were thrashed by India to lose their eight consecutive and all games vs India in World Cups. They did lose to Australia but did well to restrict them to 367, which once looked 400 and also scored 305 chasing.
Pakistan have done decently with the bat scoring 280+ in three of their four encounters so far. Mohammad Rizwan and Abdulla Shafique have been their best batsmen so far, while Imam-ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel have been decent with the best. Their biggest concern will be the form of captain Babar Azam, who after a mediocre Asia Cup has scored only 83 runs from four games so far. Their bowling is however more to worry about. Though Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf have picked 24 wickets among them, all of them have conceded runs at an economy rate of more than six. The spinners have been worse, with neither being able to pick up wickets nor stop the run flow.
Afghanistan: Though Afghanistan have lost convincingly against India, Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were able to stun the defending champions England in Delhi. Though the players are not consistent enough, they have players who can make them win any day and with the Chennai pitch assisting spinners a lot, they have a better chance with their spinners here than Pakistan. None of their players feature in the top 15 run scorers or wicket takers in this WC so far, and this gives a fair idea that none of their players are having a phenomenal World Cup. But Gurbaz, Shahidi, Azmatullah, Ikram Ali Khil and their spin trio Nabi, Rashid and Mujeeb have made some valuable contributions so far.
Players to watch out for:
Babar Azam: Babar Azam is having a torrid time with the bat off late but players like him are always a knock away from regaining form and today could be the day.
Mohammad Rizwan: Mohammad Rizwan has played brilliantly in this WC so far amassing 294 runs at an average of 98 and strike rate of 96.39 so far. He is the third highest run scorer in this world cup, 60 short of highest run scorer Virat Kohli.
Shaheen Afridi: Shaheen Afridi will be the key bowler for Pakistan today. Though Chennai pitch has offered help to the spinners, the pacers too have done well here. Shaheen Afridi has so far picked 9 wickets in 4 games of this WC so far at an average of 21.44. However, he would like to improve his economy rate of 6.03. He is 5 short of 100 wickets and if he gets that in 3 games, he would be the quickest to achieve the feat among pacers.
Rashid Khan: The poster boy of Afghanistan Cricket is undoubtedly their biggest player to watch out for. He has so far picked 6 wickets in this WC at an average of 30.83 and economy of 5.07. He has also scored 56 runs at an average of 14 and strike rate of 88.89.
Probable XI:
Pakistan : Abdullah Shafique, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf
Afghanistan : Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq/Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqui
Stats and Facts :
Pakistan have 7-0 record against Afghanistan in ODIs
Pakistan spinners average 78.5 this WC, the second worst for any side
Shaheen Afridi has picked up two wickets in each of the five ODis he has played against Afghanistan.
Shaheen Afridi is also the leading wicket-taker in the death overs in ODIs this year (17)
Rashid Khan has dismissed Babar Azam twice in ODIs conceding 48 runs in 53 balls.
Iman ul Haq averages 56.2 in his last 5 innings vs Afghanistan in ODIs.
Pitch and Weather Report:
The match is expected to be played on the same pitch, which was used for the India vs Australia game. The pitch is expected to be slow and helping the spinners. However the batsman and pacers too would be in the game
In Chennai, the forecast suggests little chance of rain and the temperature is predicted to be as high as 35 degrees. The humidity will go as high as 83%. No dew is expected for a major part of the game.
Date & Time: 23 October 2023, 2.00 PM (IST)
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Live Streaming: Star Sports network and Disney Hotstar
