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India vs Afghanistan ... T20 World Cup

If Afghanistan bowls first its going to be very very difficult for India.
Agreed. Well, even if they bat first, they are heavy hitters, entirely possible that they could pile up runs that would be unchaseable for india; don't forget, in this tournament, Afghanistan is the only team to reach close to 200 (190 against scotland)...no other country mounted these many runs, only Pakistan came close today against Namibia with 189 runs, just 1 run short of 190.
 
Some of them play IPL. They will fight but don't expect anything from rashid or mujtaba. India buys everything.
 
Pakistanis should show up in numbers, to support the Afghan Team, and to inshallah watch the Indians get defeated and eliminated from the competition.
IN SHA ALLAH! 💯
Some of them play IPL. They will fight but don't expect anything from rashid or mujtaba. India buys everything.
they couldn't buy diddly squat from new zealand. money ain't everything, especially when its the dying usd.
 
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Agreed. Well, even if they bat first, they are heavy hitters, entirely possible that they could pile up runs that would be unchaseable for india; don't forget, in this tournament, Afghanistan is the only team to reach close to 200 (190 against scotland)...no other country mounted these many runs, only Pakistan came close today against Namibia with 189 runs, just 1 run short of 190.

Ya but their bowling is so weak so far Namibia has taken more wickets than India in second innings and Namibia even has a win unlike India who got humiliated.
 
I know so far the advantage has been bowling first and chasing due to the dew and the pitches getting easier to bat on in the 2nd innings, however Afghanistan seems to prefer batting first irregardless judging by their toss decisions. They do have the spinners to make it very difficult to chase (as we saw in the Pak game, let's be honest even though the top and middle order did somewhat well, we were pretty screwed until the 19th over until when Asif took us home in style!). It may actually be more beneficial for Afghanistan to bat first and post a 130-150ish score, with Mujeeb, Rashid and Nabi sharing the overs early it could make it into a difficult chase.

Another major factor on why we won the Afghan game was getting their opener Zazai out on 0! The dude is a beast and if anyone has seen him in PSL, he would have taken the game away from us even with a quick 20-30 if Imad didn't get him in his first over. If Zazai clicks tomorrow it could be a very interesting game.
 
'The fairy tale of Afghanistan cricket is what they've achieved with few resources'


The team's head coach on how far they have come, the areas they're working on improving, and his coaching philosophy


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"What I can take with me when I leave one day is just to see how humble a team this is"

Lance Klusener, veteran of two ODI World Cups and part of one of the most memorable World Cup matches ever, is back at another world tournament, this time as Afghanistan's head coach. He talks about dealing with challenges on and off the field, and the roles played by the Afghanistan senior players

Afghanistan have beaten West Indies in the warm-ups, ran Pakistan close in the main tournament, and won two games. What do you make of the start?
I think it has been solid. We understand that, with due respect, it's Namibia and Scotland that we managed to beat. Yes, we had a very good game against Pakistan, and we were just a bit unlucky in the end. It's important to have got the points and the run rate that we do have now, but really the competition for us is still to start, with India and New Zealand, which are two world-class teams.

When Afghanistan came up against India in the 2010 T20 World Cup, it was a lopsided match-up. Now, if they beat India, they will be on the brink of a semi-final spot. In a way, does this illustrate the evolution of Afghanistan?
Yes, absolutely. Going back to Asghar [Afghan], that's the leadership with which he has been able to move the team along. The reality is that we're still growing and still have a long way to go. However, the fairy tale of Afghanistan cricket for me has been what they've been able to achieve with relatively few resources - that has been outstanding. And as I said, achieving that and still being humble people, the future is bright.

You've been with Afghanistan as head coach from 2019. What has impressed you the most about this team?
Just their passion for the game, their willingness to learn and their willingness to become better. That's just amazing - how hard they work. So I'm not really surprised that they are achieving what they have done in a short time. Just extremely proud.

What have you learnt as a coach in your time with the side?
I've coached around the world, but what stands out for me is just how humble these guys are, how respectful they are, and how aware they are of their roots and their responsibility to their supporters. That's extremely important, to keep your feet on the ground, which they do

What's your coaching philosophy? Are you a hands-on coach?
I'm hands-on where I need to be. At this level, it's about creating an environment that will allow all the players to grow. You've got your senior players - Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, for example - who just really need an environment to continue to grow, offering them [help] where and when they need it.

Then you've got your youngsters in the squad who probably need more hands-on guidance, so I think it's a combination of taking a step back when you need to and stepping in and getting your hands dirty when you need to. The trick is knowing and getting your timing right. I think we're lucky that we've got a nice mix of youth and experience; we have a good combination of coaches for this competition as well.

Speaking of the coaches, what have Andy Flower and Shaun Tait brought to the squad as consultant and bowling coach?
Experience and credibility. Andy was the coach of England when they won this competition [in 2010] and it has been good for me to have other senior coaches to bounce ideas off. But it's also nice for the players - they get a different perspective on batting or bowling. I'm quite big on getting outside help. Sometimes, it just [about] hearing the same message from a different voice that can make a world of difference.

You've also had roles at the Abu Dhabi T10 league. Has that helped you in sussing out conditions at this T20 World Cup?
It does help. Last year's T10 was particularly bad with dew, and I think as the competition [T20 World Cup] goes on a bit, the dew will get worse. We haven't experienced any problems so far, so that's been quite good for us. We've probably played more day games here as well, when we were playing Scotland and Zimbabwe at the beginning of the year. We experienced that a little bit where we found the pitch was a little bit sticky batting first in a day game and kind of gets better as the day goes on. I thought the way we negotiated that tricky little powerplay against Namibia was key for us to get over the line.

While most other teams are leaning towards chasing, Afghanistan have won two games batting first and could have won one another one, against Pakistan, if not for Asif Ali's fireworks
Yeah it [batting first] has worked for us, also in the past. It's not that we've got problems doing it the other way around. We haven't seen the need to do differently because of the conditions, so we've just stuck to that. We've been lucky to win the toss, so that has given us that opportunity to decide for ourselves. However, we've spent some time chatting on the fact that if we do decide to chase, or do need to chase, then be comfortable with that as well.

Your batting line-up has a lot of six-hitters, but they've soaked up plenty of dots. How do you find that balance on the batting front?
It's something that we're working on. We want to improve on that and we've identified that as a big growth point for us: we need to run better and work on rotating the strike better. But at the same time, we need to work on our strength, which is boundary-hitting. I think we were particularly good in the last couple of games - the way we rotated the strike has been a lot better compared to in the past. If we can as a team get better with that and squeeze out an extra five, six runs every innings, that's an extra win somewhere down the line.
 
Scotland NZ is getting a bit interesting. If Scotland pull this out, than it will be inbetween India and Afghanistan.
 
Pakistanis should show up in numbers, to support the Afghan Team, and to inshallah watch the Indians get defeated and eliminated from the competition.

 
India opened with Ishan Kishan as 'we didn't want too many left-handers in late middle order'

"It was the whole management who sits together and takes this call and of course, Rohit is part of that group"


India's reshuffle of their batting order against New Zealand became a major talking point after the side careened to a second successive defeat at the T20 World Cup. A back spasm to Suryakumar Yadav prompted the team management to bring in Ishan Kishan, who was bumped up to open alongside KL Rahul, with Rohit Sharma dropping down to No. 3. While Kishan holed out for 4 off eight balls, Rohit managed a run-a-ball 14 before falling to Ish Sodhi.

Vikram Rathour, India's batting coach, said that the team management believed that the side would be better off with Kishan opening rather than slotting into the middle order and making it a left-hander heavy one. The move also denied Trent Boult a favourable match-up against Rohit, but it didn't come off on Sunday.

"How things went was that Surya was having some back spasm the previous night," Rathour explained. "So, he was not fit enough to be in the playing XI. So, the person coming in was of course Ishan. And Ishan has done really well as an opener in IPL and in the past for the Indian team as well. And about who takes the call - it was the whole management who sits together and takes this call and of course, Rohit is part of that group.

"So, Rohit was of course part of that discussion, which tactically made sense having a left-hander upfront because we didn't want too many left-handers in the late middle order with Ishan, Pant and Jadeja. So, tactically it made sense and that guy has batted well at the top of the order."

Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka captain and Rohit's coach at Mumbai Indians in the IPL, was critical of India asking some of their players to adapt to new roles in the middle of a World Cup.

"Ishan has done really well as an opener in IPL and in the past for the Indian team as well. And about who takes the call - it was the whole management who sits together and takes this call and of course, Rohit is part of that group"
Vikram Rathour

"If you batted them in those correct positions, they are familiar with those roles and they would have executed," Jayawardene said on ESPNcricinfo's T20 Time Out. "If they had failed in those roles, then that's a question you can always ask. But if you are pulling guys away from those particular roles where they are quite familiar with, then it's always going to be a tough one."

The rest of the batters too struggled to find the boundary so much that India went 71 balls between the sixth and the 17th overs without finding the fence. They managed just two sixes against New Zealand. Rathour put down a part of those struggles to batting first on challenging pitches, pointing out that most teams have also found it difficult to hit enough boundaries while batting first.
 
The IPL was good preparation for India's players ahead of the T20 World Cup, and it was just their execution that went awry against Pakistan and New Zealand, according to Rathour.

"IPL does provide you the platform where you play against or compete against top cricketers all around the world," he said. "So, definitely it is a good platform to practice, so I don't see any issue there. With us getting into World Cup after playing IPL, the players got lots of games. They had to work on their game, but whether that worked... what happened in the past two games is that we were not really able to execute our plans the way we wanted to and that has been our issue and not the preparation."

Two heavy defeats in Dubai have put India's semi-final chances in jeopardy and they will now have to adapt against Afghanistan's spinners in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Rathour, though, backed India to come good.

"Of course they [Afghanistan] are a good team and they have done well," Rathour said. "The challenge will be their spinners. If we can bat to our potential, we have a tremendous and skilful set of players with us, who have done well in the past. If we play to our potential, I think we should be able to do well."
 

Today's match

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Hopefully the best side would win
 
5.20pm
In news leading up to the game, Sharafuddin Ashraf has replaced the now retired Asghar Afghan in Afghanistan's squad. And if you've been as amazed as I have by Hamid Hassan's return to international cricket, here's a lovely piece on the man and his comeback, by Deiva. And, as I type this, Scotland are giving themselves an outside chance of giving India a helping hand.

madhuy: "I'm hoping for an upset today. i.e. India winning.."

Lavish Bhateja: "I hope india won't tinker too much with their batting positions in this match. This strategy already backfired in last match and it was met with the similar fate during 2019 semis as well."

5.15pm
Deivarayan Muthu is at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, and this is what he's seen so far: "I think Mujeeb is part of the Afghanistan group that is having a kickabout. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who had his arm in a sling after hurting himself while diving in the outfield against Namibia, is good to. At the adjacent strip, Hardik Pandya is bowling off a shorter run-up along with Shardul Thakur."
 

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