🏏 Cricket WC 2023: Match #39: Aus vs Afg:🏏Link #Thread 2:P 152 - Page 2

Team News

Afghanistan

Afghanistan are likely to stick to their spin-heavy attack despite what the conditions might offer them. No wonder Shahidi kept wishing for the pitch to turn with a very disarming smile on his face.

Tactics & Strategy:

The Afghanistan captain was also very reluctant to disclose any tactic or strategy even if the question posed to him, twice, was about how he thought he'd use his spinners against the Aussie power hitters. He did talk about having four options to take the new-ball, including Mujeeb-ur-Rahman who has been a key so far in the powerplay, which is Afghanistan's best chance to make an early impact on the Aussies.

Did you know?

- Afghanistan have had had eight 50+ stands in their last three outings.

- Adam Zampa has 16 middle-overs wickets in this World Cup. No other bowler has more than 12

- David Warner is one hundred short of Rohit Sharma's record tally of seven World Cup tons.

What they said:

"In such a short time, we achieved a lot compared to other countries. And right now, we know the whole world is talking about our team's performance. As a team also, we are happy for that. But I think as a captain, it's not enough for me, looking forward for the other games. Tomorrow is one of the important games for us. And we will not relax until we sit back and plan and go back to country, until that we will fight as a team. We are here to fight and we will try our best." - Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan captain

Go afg

thanks for the tag

will be inactive today as i am travelling

We're into the final week of the league phase and the action heats up as teams look to secure their place in the semi-finals. Two slots have been booked and India are confirmed to finish 1st. Today's contest is between Australia and Afghanistan, two teams who have found form at the right time. The former are on a 5-match winning streak while the latter have won three in a row. Australia can become the third team to secure a place in the semis with a win today. On the other hand, Afghanistan have a chance to upstage another former world champion and strengthen their own claims for a semi-final place.

Wankhede Stadium is the venue for today's match and the stats suggest a win toss and bat first scenario. Three matches have been played here so far and the average score batting first is a whopping 379. On the other hand, the new ball has swung under lights and has made batting a hazardous proposition. England were bundled out for 170 by South Africa, Bangladesh for 233 by the same team and Sri Lanka crumbled to 55 against the Indians. It shouldn't come as a surprise if the captain winning the toss opts to bat first today.

We've somre breaking news: Steve Smith just had a fitness test a while back and he didn't look in great shape. Could he be rested for today's clash? He had vertigo going into the match today and wasn't 100% at the nets yesterday as well

Thank you for the tag Viswasruti

Can we have some information, is possible, for batters and bowlers to watch for and score prediction...

Originally posted by: Viswasruti

Australia vs Afghanistan Playing 11 | Predicted XIs

Australia Probable XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith/Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

Afghanistan Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad.

Did you know?

David Warner is 45 runs away from becoming just the third batter in the history of international cricket to cross 18000 across all formats of as an opener. Sanath Jayasuriya and Chris Gayle are the only others have reached that milestone.