New Zealand and Afghanistan will face off each other for their second Super 12 game. Both had contrasting results in their previous game; NZ beat AUS by 89 runs and AFG lost to ENG by 5 wickets.
OVERVIEW:
NEW ZEALAND:
New Zealand surprised everyone by dismantling the hosts and defending champions by a mammoth 89 runs in the Super 12 opener. This huge win changes the complexion of the group totally. Because of the margin of this victory, NZ could afford a loss to England and still finish in the top 2 in the group as they’ll fancy their chances to win against the other teams whereas the situation is exactly the opposite for Australia.
The Kiwis were not in great form coming into the tournament, as they lost the tri-Series vs Pakistan at home and got bashed by South Africa in the warmup game. But when it mattered the most, their players rose to the occasion. Finn Allen started things and Conway carried it through the innings and Neesham gave the final kick. But there will be concerns about Williamson’s form. In the bowling department, Southee and both the spinners were excellent as they choked the Aussie batters throughout the innings. Fielding has never been a concern with the Kiwis in the past. As far as their team composition is concerned, we would expect them to field the same playing XI.
AFGHANISTAN:
Afghanistan had an interesting previous game. They lost it but they made the English batters to work hard to reach the target of 113. Its difficult to say whether the Afghan bowlers bowled brilliantly, or the pitch was helping them, or the English batters showed no intent. As per the points table, Afghanistan are placed above Australia but it could have been worse if England chased the total a bit more earlier than they did.
Both their batting and fielding let them down in the previous game, as they were 109-5 at one stage and collapsed to 112-10 with several balls to be played. 15-20 more runs would have made the game a bit more interesting, but their batting looked awful against England’s pacers. As always, their spinners controlled and made most of the damage. Afghanistan have never won a game against New Zealand, and it looks like they’ll have to wait for a while because unlike England, the Kiwis have some quality batters against spin in the likes of Conway, Williamson and Chapman.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI:
NEW ZEALAND: F Allen, D Conway (WK), K Williamson (C), G Phillips, M Chapman, J Neesham, M Santner, T Southee, I Sodhi, L Ferguson, T Boult.
AFGHANISTAN: H Zazai, R Gurbaz (WK), I Zadran, U Ghani, N Zadran, M Nabi (C), A Omarzai, R Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, F Ahmad, F Farooqi.
PITCH and WEATHER:
This will be the second game to be played in this venue and might be same pitch. The ball was swinging and seaming for a considerable period and that was mainly with the help of the weather. The pattern is likely to continue. The chance of raining is bleak, but we’ll expect some showers as the wind blows at 13 kmph. The temperature is expected to be between 14-17 Degree Celsius.
VENUE: Melbourne Cricket Stadium, Melbourne.
DATE & TIME: 26th Oct at 1:30 pm IST and 7:00 pm Local Time.
LIVE STREAMING: Disney + Hotstar and Star Sports Network.
FACTS & MILESTONES:
- Both these teams have played each other only once before in T20Is which New Zealand won handsomely.
- With 125 wickets, Tim Southee is the leading wicket taker in T20Is who’s closely followed by Shakib Al Hasan who has 123 wickets.
- Rashid Khan needs 6 more wickets to go past Tim Southee.
- Martin Guptill is the 3rd leading run scorer in the format, was expected to top chart in this tournament but is unlikely to play as Finn Allen has sealed his spot.
WIN PREDICTION:
NEW ZEALAND – 80%
AFGHANISTAN – 20%
DREAM 11 FANTASY TEAM:
