🏏ICC Men's T20I WC 2022: Super 12 - Group 1 - AUS vs AFG - 04/11/22🏏

🏏Welcome to ICC Men's T20I World Cup 2022🏏

Super 12 - Group 1

Australia vs Afghanistan on 04/11/2022 at 1:30 PM IST Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

Defending champions Australia need huge win against Afghanistan

The hosts are level on points with New Zealand and England, but way behind on net run rate

Australia have everything to play for. The defending champions must win big and make huge net run rate gains against Afghanistan to have any hope of reaching the semi-finals. But even if Australia achieve both those things, their destiny is out of their hands as England's match against Sri Lanka on Saturday will still determine who makes the final four from Group 1.

The hosts have not played anywhere near their best cricket in this tournament and are battling a raft of injury concerns, including their captain Aaron Finch. Should they lose to Afghanistan or even win without progressing to the semi-finals, this could well be the final T20I fling for a number of their senior players. Australia are not scheduled to play another T20I until August 2023 and with the next T20 World Cup in 2024, the likes of Finch, Matthew Wade and David Warner could well be considering their T20I futures.

Afghanistan had high hopes of being a dark horse in Australia but those hopes have been washed away by rain and two substandard batting performances against England and Sri Lanka. Adelaide could suit their style of cricket better than Perth Stadium and the Gabba, with Rashid Khan returning to a place where he is more popular than most South Australians given his exploits with Adelaide Strikers. He has been almost unplayable in the BBL at the venue and Australia will be wary of what he, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman could do to their middle order.

But Afghanistan will need runs. Ireland's top order was blown away by Australia and Afghanistan's top six face a similarly stern test against an attack that is yet to fire at full throttle.

More broadly, this will be the first T20I meeting between Australia and Afghanistan. They have only met in three ODIs and have never played a Test match. It is the first meeting since the proposed Hobart Test last year was cancelled by Cricket Australia for political reasons.

AUS vs AFG Weather Forecast And Pitch Report Of Adelaide Oval, ICC T20 World Cup 2022, Match 38

The stadium hosted its first ODI back in 1975 when Australia took on the West Indies. Over the years, many riveting contests have taken place at Adelaide Oval, including West Indies’ great escape from the proverbial jaws of defeat to beat Australia by 1-run in a Test match in 1993.

Generally, the Adelaide Oval is reckoned to be the best batting wicket in Australia. In 2013, Adelaide became host to the drop-in pitches. The Adelaide Oval has witnessed 5 T20Is to date and Australia have featured in all of them. Australia won twice while India, South Africa, and England have won a match each. The average score batting first is 182. David Warner have registered the highest score of 100* and Shane Watson registered the best bowling figure of 4/15 at Adelaide.

According to weather.com, the temperature on match day-4th November, Friday at Adelaide will be 12-19 degrees Celcius. The weather will be partly cloudy at night and generally clear during the day. Winds will be from East/ West at 10 to 15 km/h. Chances of rainfall are 4-6% while humidity will be between 59-68%.

Team Watch

Australia

Injured/Unavailable: Australia continue to sweat on Finch and David, to a lesser extent, but Marcus Stoinis seemed to have pulled up a lot better and had a long hit alongside Glenn Maxwell.

Tactics & Matchups:

Australia have no choice but to throw everything they've got at the gritty Afghans and hope for the best. Whether that means getting Mitchell Starc to open the bowling again and give them a blistering start with the ball, or even perhaps promoting some of their bigger hitters when they get to bat and hopefully set a target.

Probable XI: Aaron Finch (c)/Cameron Green, David Warner, Mitch Marsh/Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David/Steve Smith, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Afghanistan

Tactics & Matchups:

It's a pity that we haven't seen enough of Afghanistan in this World Cup to really get stuck in to their tactics. But having Rashid Khan fit in time for the big 'home' game in Adelaide is one match-up that they and everyone involved were hoping doesn't get scuppered. And with Rashid set to play, their plans will revolve around his mastery with the ball and bat with the otherwise settled side playing around him.

Rashid Khan has dismissed Stoinis thrice and Finch twice in T20 cricket. Matthew Wade, however, has never gotten out in 49 balls from Rashid and has scored at a strike-rate of 153.13 against the maverick spinner.

Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Usman Ghani, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi (c), Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Another one-sided match wherein Australia will win.

Thanks for the tag, dear 🤗

What they said:

"Not bad when it's in cricket terms. Anything else, maths wasn't my best subject at school. One thing that I love is when they have a runs per over required when you're chasing because sometimes it comes up on the screen and it might say 57 runs off 36 balls. To try and quickly work out what that looks like in runs per over, that's not my strength. But if it says on the board, you need 11 an over or 6 an over, then you can start to develop a game plan around that rather than having to worry about doing the maths, because that's never been my strong point. But in cricket terms, it's not that bad." - Aaron Finch on his mathematics skills with Australia's qualification potentially down to a numbers game.

In the spotlight

Mitchell Starc was once the most revered new-ball bowler in T20 cricket. He is now a middle-overs specialist not bowling the opening over. Australia have stated that it's part of a grand plan to best utilise their attack across the 20 overs. The numbers reflect a starker reality for Starc: he is nowhere near the bowler he once was. Prior to 2020, his T20I economy rate was just 6.74 and he conceded more than 10-runs-per-over just twice in 28 matches. Since 2020, his economy rate is 8.48 and he has conceded more than 10-runs-per-over in nine of his last 30 matches, including against Ireland despite striking twice in his first over. He remains a wicket-taker, but he has become an extremely expensive one. Australia need more from their frontline left-arm seamer.

Sounds odd to suggest Rashid Khan would be in the spotlight but coming off some injury concerns and heading to Adelaide, where he is a favourite son, he will hope to have a huge impact at a place that has become a home away from home for him. He has also gone 10 T20s without a three-wicket haul, his last coming in the Asia Cup against Bangladesh. Teams continue to be risk-averse against Rashid out of sheer respect for his quality. But if Afghanistan are to beat Australia, he needs to light up Adelaide with both bat and ball.

Stats and trivia

These two teams have never met in T20I cricket and have only met three times in international cricket, with Australia winning all three matches in 2012, 2015 and 2019.

Rashid has taken 44 wickets in 29 T20 matches at Adelaide Oval. He has a better strike rate at the venue - 15.5 - compared to his career strike rate of 16.8, but a marginally higher economy rate.

Thaxs for the tag

I missed KW's ( nz) innings

I was on Voot with indian tv Serial

Missed in New jersey last year

Thank you, Raji, for the thread and for tagging. 🤗

🏏ICC Men'sT20I WC 2022- India vs Zimbabwe, M-42, Super 12 Group 2🏏

🏏ICC Men'sT20I WC 2022- India vs Zimbabwe, M-42, Super 12 Group 2🏏

India will take on Zimbabwe in the final league game of the T20 World Cup 2022. Given their recent form, India is considered the favorite to win the match and end up as Group 2 table toppers.

The rain came in handy for them as they defeated Bangladesh by 5 runs (D/L method) in their last match. KL Rahul returned to form with an entertaining half-century, and his outstanding throw to eliminate Liton Das was the game's turning point.

Virat Kohli's ICC tournament streak continues, with the former captain averaging 220 in this T20 World Cup. They must win this match in order to advance to the semi-finals.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, has struggled against small teams, losing their previous two matches by 5 wickets and 3 runs to the Netherlands and Bangladesh, respectively.

They performed a miracle by defeating Pakistan by one run last week, but they struggled to replicate similar performances in the subsequent games.

Throughout the tournament, Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani have been outstanding for them. They need to win here to avoid finishing at the bottom of Group 2.

Beating the spirited Team India will be a daunting task for them!

But T20 cricket doesn't conform to reputation, especially not one played in the off-season in Australia. Qualifying out of the group, therefore, is a slightly more realistic minimum expectation.

They return to the MCG, a win over Zimbabwe away from meeting it.

This is the last match of the Group 12 matches.