India meet Afghanistan as both teams look to bow out on a high

After Pakistan secured a win against Afghanistan last night, all hopes of India’s advancement to the finals were snuffed out. However, there is still one game to go and this is going to be another swashbuckler as the Men in Blue collide with the resurgent Afghans and despite the heartbreak for both sides, the competition that they have presented their counterparts with have been nothing short of crackling.

India will have a lot of questions looming large as they crashed out of the tournament after two consecutive defeats against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Once Ravindra Jadeja copped a knee injury, the Men in Blue had some urgent shuffles to make which failed to yield the desired results. With the T20I World Cup at hand, India will be hoping to gather as much momentum as they can as they lock horns with El Presidente’s men in their last encounter of Asia Cup 2022.

Afghanistan has been way ahead of their usual struggling selves and the kind of impact that they have created in the ongoing tournament is nothing short of momentous. They lost their last two games by whiskers and would be desperate to bring the same brand of performance against the Men in Blue as they hope to finish the tournament on a high.

Venue Watch:

There won’t be much changes in the nature of the surface that Dubai has used in the remaining games and it would continue to be a batting track with the dew in the second half making life easier for the ones with the willow. There will be some early drift and carry on the surface, which if weathered, can give way to some rampant batting display.

Battles to watch out for:

Virat Kohli versus Fazhalhaq Farooqi:

Virat had a rare failure in the last contest but has so far shown tremendous shape and courage to stage a comeback from the darker days in England. He has found his willow doing the talking again bringing out his signature strokes without any difficulties. Farooqi has been a treat to the eyes with some stringent discipline and frequenting the slot with clinical precision. It will be a battle to witness between the blade and the leather as the two come face to face.

Rohit Sharma versus Rashid Khan:

The Afghan skipper would like to take off pace when Rohit is batting, especially after the kind of onslaught that he put up against Sri Lanka in the face of some serious ordeal. Despite a lean patch of late, we witnessed the signature Rohit Sharma taking the bowlers head on and turning them into a pulp before he lost his line. Until then he was a threat to be tamed and the sheer destruction that he put up was a treat for the eyes. Rashid Khan can turn the ball quickly in the air and it won’t be easy for Sharma to play against the spin. This is exactly what makes this battle an exciting one.

Hardik Pandya versus Mohammad Nabi:

The two all-rounders have seemed to be in decent shape throughout despite a couple of rare blips and would be raring to get a piece of each other. The Afghan captain has rallied his troops with excellence and the Indian all-rounder has been a massive beacon for the Men in Blue in the middle-overs. Bringing these two together will create a mini-war of its own.

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.

Afghanistan:

Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari.

Match Details:

India vs Afghanistan

Dubai International Stadium

8th September 2022 7:30 PM