🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #22: Pakistan vs Afghanistan 🏏 - Page 2

Pakistan played their last game against Australia which they lost by 62 runs. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq managed to score 64 runs and 70 runs respectively for Pakistan in that game. On the other hand, Afghanistan played their last match against New Zealand where they lost that game by 149 runs. Rahmat Shah managed to score 36 runs for Afghanistan in that game.

These two teams have played 7 games against each other in this format so far, where Pakistan won all of those matches against Afghanistan, and a good game is expected here.

Thanks girl for the tag and reminding me as well .

Thanks for the tag Madhu.

May the best team win.

Cheers..

We're back in Chennai for Match 22 of #CWC2023 and this is a massive game from the semifinal perspective for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. As the tournament reaches its halfway stage, we're slowly getting to a point where some results would be tournament defining, and this is one such game for both the Asian sides. With 5 wins out of 5, India are racing away towards a place in the semis, New Zealand and South Africa aren't too far behind either while Australia have rediscovered their winning ways. As such, it's imperative for both sides to finish on a winning note today. Both teams are coming into the contest on the back of losses, Afghanistan tumbled over to New Zealand at this very venue a few days ago whereas Pakistan were humbled by Australia in Bengaluru, slipping to their second straight loss.

It is pretty breezy there at the moment, reports Pommie Mbangwa. Aaron Finch says "there's not a blade of grass" on the pitch, and thinks this could be among the slowest of pitches even by Chennai's standards.

Team News - Pakistan left out Shadab Khan in favour of Usama Mir in Bengaluru, but the returns were minimal. Not only did Usama give away a heap of runs, his reprieve of David Warner turned the game on its head. With the bat, he was dismissed for a duck and could go back to warm the benches. Will Pakistan rest either Rauf or Hasan Ali and give Mohammed Wasim jr a go? Looks highly unlikely at the moment. For Afghanistan, the temptation of playing Noor Ahmad brings in the complication of balancing out the playing XI. They need their batters to come to the party and give their in-form spinners a chance of putting pressure on the Pakistani batting unit. Aaron Finch on air has noted that Noor Ahmad is indeed warming-up. So will Afghanistan play a 4th spinner? If so, one of Farooqi or Naveen-ul-Haq might have to sit out. Irfan Pathan reckons this is a better batting surface when compared to the India v Australia game. Team selection could be very interesting in both camps

The format of the tournament gives teams a chance to recover from early setbacks, but both teams wouldn't want to find themselves with too much catching-up to do as the league phase enters the home stretch. Speaking of the match, the pitch that'll be used today is the same as that of the India-Australia game, the opening match at this venue. It would mean spinners from both sides licking their lips, but it ain't a bad pitch to bat either, as Kohli, KL Rahul and to an extent Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne showed on that Sunday night? Will the toss prove to be vital? It hasn't been the case here in Chennai although both teams would probably want to bat first and set-up a total on the board.

A bit of a breeze today coming through the stands. 75m straight boundaries while the square sides are at 65 and 66m respectively. Not a lot of pace in this pitch and you can't hit through the line. Not a blade of grass and expect this pitch to spin. This could be the slowest pitch in this ground today, reckon Pommie Mbangwa and Aaron Finch, in their pitch report

Cant decide whom to choose for players or winning team 🫣😵‍💫😵‍💫🥴🥴🥴

The toss is imminent... and Pakistan opt to bat first. Nawaz has a fever, so Shadab is back for Pakistan.

Pakistan won the toss elected to bat first.