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

After last night's emphatic victory, the entire country erupted into festivities. Because it was tough against a strong opponent.

Today's match is between two teams in which one is strongest and the other is flamboyant because of their unexpected victories against previous World Cup winners!!

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

After enduring tough losses in their previous two encounters, Babar Azam-led Pakistan will look to return to winning ways when they meet Afghanistan in Chennai today.

Pakistan currently occupies the fifth spot on the points table, while Afghanistan is placed last, having won just one match out of the four they've played so far.

While Pakistan does appear as favorites on paper, things may not be as easy on the field given the Chepauk track, which has a reputation of assisting spinners.

Going by this factor and Afghanistan's promising spin attack led by Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Mohammad Nabi, a mighty test awaits for Babar Azam and Co. at Chepauk.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, will be high on confidence, having already stunned defending champions England earlier in the tournament.

Afghanistan have not been in good form in the tournament. They had a disappointing showing in the Asia Cup campaign in Sri Lanka, before losing their World Cup opener to Bangladesh.

Despite these underwhelming performances, Afghanistan were able to pull off a massive upset against the defending World Cup winners, England.

Pakistan had an excellent start to their World Cup 2023 campaign in India but in the last couple of matches, their campaign got derailed a bit.

After recording back-to-back wins against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, Pakistan conceded their first defeat of the tournament against hosts India.

They lost the match by seven wickets before conceding a second straight defeat to Australia.

Head-to-Head Record Overall:

Pakistan holds the edge over Afghanistan in the overall head-to-head record in ODIs. The two sides have met seven times previously, and Pakistan have emerged victorious on all occasions.

World Cup :

The two sides have met once in the showpiece event, which was in the previous edition held in England. Then, both sides engaged in a low-scoring thriller, which Pakistan eventually won by three wickets.

Pakistan have emerged victorious in the previous five contests, the most recent being the three-match ODI series, which was played in Sri Lanka ahead of the Asia Cup.

Afghanistan: LWLLL

Pakistan: LLWWL

Did you know?

Pakistan have only ever played two ODIs in Chennai, both against India. They won each time, in 1997 and 2012.

PAK vs AFG Probable XIs:

PAK Probable XI: Imam ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

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

Thank you for the tag dear Madhuri

Happy Maha Navami to all

May the best team win today

Thanks for the tag madhuri 🥰

May the best team win 🫣

Which reminds me i need to send predictions 😵‍💫 😓😴

Bowling is still a worry, but Pakistan ready to break loose

The Men in Green struggled against India and Australia in their previous two matches, losing both, but will aim to get back on track with a win over Afghanistan in Chennai. Despite Shaheen Afridi’s five-for against the Aussies in their last match, Pakistan’s bowling hit rock bottom, with each of their bowlers leaking runs at a terrible rate.

Be it Haris Rauf or Hasan Ali, none looked like hitting the right lengths, let alone threatening batters with their sheer pace. Though the inclusion of Usama Mir ahead of underperforming Shadab Khan provided vital, Mohammed Nawaz not finding rhythm continues to worry them.

Batting-heavy Pakistan will again rely on their top order to break loose against Afghanistan, with a new star in Abdullah Shafique at the top.

Pakistan’s unbeaten 7-0-win record over Afghanistan in ODIs will work to their advantage heading into this match.

Happy Maha Navmi

Thanks for the tagGood luck to both teams.

Upset on the cards by Afghanistan?

Afghanistan had already beaten one of the top teams in this edition, England in Delhi. Given how close they came to topping Pakistan in ODIs earlier, a win over their rivals on Monday wouldn’t surprise anyone.

A team with perhaps the best spin attack in the world has a lot more to it, and they have shown thus far in this tournament. Despite expectations from the star-studded opening pair to click in every game, the middle order has mostly come to the rescue, with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi striking gold.

Result Prediction

Afghanistan will challenge Pakistan and might even put them on the brink of a historic defeat in World Cups, but the experience might save the former world champions. Pakistan to beat Afghanistan.

Matches won bowling first- 18

Average 1st Inns scores- 226

Average 2nd Inns scores- 204

Highest total recorded- 337/7 (50 Ov) by ASIA XI vs AFRICA XI

The lowest total recorded was 69/10 (23.5 Ov) by KEN vs NZ

The highest score chased- 291/2 (47.5 Ov) by WI vs IND

The lowest score defended was 171/10 (45.4 Ov) by ENG vs SA

PAK vs AFG Toss Prediction

The team winning the toss might opt to bat first. Chasing is quite a tricky task at MA Chidambaram Stadium due to spin tracks. In the previous game, Afghanistan lost at the same stadium while batting second. Hence, they will look to bat first this time.

Pakistan is currently placed at the 5th position on the points table of the ICC World Cup 2023 whereas Afghanistan is currently placed at the bottom of the points table. Pakistan played 4 matches in the ICC World Cup 2023 where they won 2 matches while Afghanistan also played 4 matches in this tournament where they managed to win just a single game.