On Wednesday, October 11, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, the ninth game of the current ODI World Cup 2023 will take place between Team India and Afghanistan.
India enters this match off of an incredible six-wicket victory against Australia in Chennai in their previous match
. Afghanistan, meantime, made a poor start to their campaign in the main event when they were defeated by Bangladesh at Dharamsala by the margin of six wickets. The ‘Men in Blue’ are clearly the overwhelming favorites to win this match, but they will be mindful of the Afghans, who came dangerously close to beating them in the 2019 ODI World Cup.
Shubman Gill, who is 2023’s top ODI run scorer, would not be available to Rohit Sharma and company since he has dengue. Although this is a terrible miss, the management of the team would be delighted with the form that Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have displayed. In the match against Australia, they saved India from a grave situation, and the home crowd will be hoping to see them continue their winning streaks.
On a somewhat dry surface at Chepauk, the Indian spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Kuldeep Yadav weaved a web around the Australian hitters. The team management, though, might think about adding an extra seamer for this game to spook the Afghan team. Mohammed Shami might be considered after scoring three goals against the “Blue Tigers” during the 2019 World Cup.
Afghanistan will be heavily dependent on two alliances. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran’s opening batsman pairing will be vital. Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan will need to combine their bowling efforts to keep the Indian hitters on their toes. Even if Afghanistan’s recent results have been all over the place, they are still capable of pulling off a surprise, thus India would be wise to avoid resting on their laurels and becoming comfortable.
More than 750 runs were made in the ODI World Cup 2023 match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, which was played in Delhi. On Wednesday, there might be another run-fest in store.