In the ninth match of the the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, the two-time World Cup winner, India will take on Afghanistan tomorrow, October 11, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi at 2 PM IST.
Another day another big clash for the Men in Blue. After a win by six wickets against the mighty Aussies in their campaign opener, the Rohit Sharma-led side will take on the team of tricksters, Afghanistan. With Shubman Gill still recovering from illness, fans would hope Ishan Kishan to deliver big at the start. Along with him, the likes of Rohit, and Shreyas Iyer will also want to score a few runs. In-form players, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will once again aim to stretch their stay at the crease and score big while Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja will try to maximise in the death overs by dispatching few in the stands. With the ball, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were quite economical. On the other hand, Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav looked economical in the middle overs. With the pitch supporting batting the most, spinners will try to slow down the game and restrict the Afghanistan batters.
On the contrary, Afghanistan started their campaign with a terrible loss against Bangladesh at Dharamshala. The side, after missing out on playing India in the Asia Cup 2023, will try to maximise their chance and upset the two-time world champions. Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a good knock in the last match and will try to continue his form while Ibrahim Zadran, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and others will also try to contribute with the willow. The Afghan bowlers also weren’t impressive in the first match but with players like Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and others, one cannot count them out.
Head-to-Head:
India and Afghanistan have played each other only thrice till now in which the Men in Blue clinched 2 games while one game also ended as a stalemate. Both also faced each other in the 2019 edition of the World Cup where India won in the final over courtesy of Mohammad Shami‘s hat-trick.
Where to watch:
TV: Star Sports
OTT: Disney+ Hotstar