🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #13: England vs Afghanistan 🏏

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🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #13: England vs Afghanistan 🏏

"We're different,"said Hashmatullah Shahidi

'Different' is what they need to be - from the version that bowled to Rohit Sharma three days ago, or the ones that ran into the England juggernaut in Manchester four years ago.

Shahidi was there that day, partaking in the deflating neck exercise of following the trajectory of the ball sailing into the stands as Eoin Morgan hit a record 17 sixes and England amassed 25 in all - another record at the time.

Morgan no longer takes the field as an active cricketer, but Jos Buttler's crew is capable of being as devastating, if not more.

England are currently like the plane that's just taken the last turn before the momentum-fueling sprint towards take-off.

The Delhi venue, which now has the worst bowling average (51.32) at the World Cup, will provide quite the runway.

Afghanistan showed competence with the bat in the game against India, but it is their bowling that needs stepping up on today, as England will not just eye the two points on offer, but also try to pair it up with a booster shot for their Net Run Rate.

The extent to which Afghanistan blunt that will give a good idea of how accurate or farfetched Shahidi's pre-tournament claims are.

England batter Joe Root provided an update on the availability of all-rounder Ben Stokes ahead of their World Cup clash against Afghanistan.

After reversing his retirement, Stokes missed out on England's opening two games against New Zealand and Bangladesh due to a niggle in his hip.

Their campaign back on track after the humiliating loss in the opener, titleholders England would look for a dominating all-round effort against a battered Afghanistan in the World Cup

Tags Credit: Sutapasima

England Playing 11 Probable

Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley.

Afghanistan Playing 11 Probable

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Defending champions England's campaign started on a disappointing note as they lost by nine wickets against New Zealand in the tournament opener in Ahmedabad on October 5.

But the Jos Buttler-led side bounced back in style, humbling Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

Despite putting up a competitive 282 for nine in the opener at a batting-friendly Narendra Modi Stadium pitch, England bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra as New Zealand romped home in 36.2 overs.

What to expect: A hot evening, with temperatures hitting 34 degrees Celsius when the game begins. England and Afghanistan will play on a surface adjacent to the one where the latter lost to India on October 11. There's a generous spread of green on this pitch, but as evidenced by the last two games here, that is merely cosmetic in this nightmarish venue for the bowlers.

Team Watch

England

Joe Root was largely non-committal on the status of Ben Stokes's availability, but did say that the 32-year-old trained well on Friday. With a lot of gap between games, England have the luxury to keep Stokes under wraps for Sunday, work up his fitness even more and then unleash him for the marquee game against South Africa in Mumbai on October 21.

Chris Woakes was absent from training on Friday but Root said he 'was on the bus' on Saturday. Should the allrounder miss out, England could bring in David Willey.

Tactics & Strategy:

The venue offers what England craves the most - a mountain of runs. They're likely to go harder than they did in Dharamsala, where they ended up with 364/9. It's outlandish to suggest there's room for improvement even from that effort, but there actually is : England got just 66 runs in the last 10 overs in that game - a modest return by their lofty white-ball standards.

Dawid Malan was the outstanding player, scoring 140 off 107 to set up England’s innings becoming the oldest World Cup centurion in the process.

Consistent pressure with the ball saw Buttler’s side bowl the Tigers out for just 227 and earn them their first points of the tournament.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, are currently at the bottom of the points table with two losses from the two matches they have played. Having been skittles out for 156 by Bangladesh in their first match they performed admirably against India, recovering from a rocky start to post 272. Indian captain Rohit Sharmaunleashed chaos in the host’s reply though and the total was easily chased down.

That match was also played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi so the Afghans will at least be familiar with the conditions before they take on the current World Champions today!!

England are expected to make changes ahead of this fixture which could see Ben Stokes return to the team if he is fit enough to play. Pace bowlers like Mark Wood and Chris Woakes could be rested, with David Willey and Gus Atkinson making their returns to the line-up. Moeen Ali sat out the win over Bangladesh and could slot back in as the wicket in Delhi doesn’t provide much help for the seamers.

Afghanistan should name an unchanged side as they look to pull off a shock victory over England. The XI impressed against India on this ground and can use the familiar conditions to challenge England.

Team news --Afghanistan

Jonathan Trott responded to a query on possible changes to his side with "I am not at liberty to divulge that information, sorry," but it is unlikely for them to chop and change. They're more in need of better application from the bowlers they've trusted so far, rather than different bowlers altogether.

Tactics & Strategy:

Two days out from the game, Ajay Jadeja advised assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai to give Rahmanullah Gurbaz some confidence in the nets with the way he throws down to him. Gurbaz for his part, nailed his pull shots against the rising throw-downs and was tidy off his front foot too.

In a ground with short boundaries, the 21-year-old opener will be key for a good start against Reece Topley as he averages 48.33 against left-arm pacers. Ibrahim Zadran, Gurbaz's opening partner, does well against right-arm quicks - with an average of 55.67 and a strike rate of 85.35. Afghanistan might just have the right ingredients to take the game to England early on.

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Did you know:

- In the middle-overs (11-40) in ODIs since 2021, Dawid Malan averages 130.5 and strikes at 105.67

- Since the 2019 World Cup, Rahmat Shah has most runs in ODIs for Afghanistan (1048).

- Mohammad Nabi averages 21 with the bat and 39.7 with the ball in ODIs this year

- For all of his white-ball brilliance, Jos Buttler has not had a good time playing ODIs in India - with 146 runs in 9 innings at a lowly average of 16.22.