What's new

India vs Afghanistan ... T20 World Cup

Mangesh: "Being an ardent Indian fan from childhood days, it pains to see this bunch of boys brimming with talent struggle to earn their first win. T20 especially is a format which heavily depends on the current form of players as well as how well sorted the team is with it's combination and strategies. Considering that, I feel that India might struggle to win today, as well as their last game against Namibia. Unpopular opinion, but I will be happy to be proven wrong."

Azweer: "Hope Virat received some tips on "how to win the toss" from Mentor MSD..."
 
.
New Zealand have just won't Scotland.
Screenshot_20211103-133426_Chrome.jpg
 
.
'Mentally fine, physically super-fine,' says Afghanistan's Hamid ahead of tonight's T20 India clash


AFP
November 3, 2021


Afghanistan pacer Hamid Hassan celebrates after dismissing Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus during their Group II match at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE on Sunday. — AP


Afghanistan pacer Hamid Hassan celebrates after dismissing Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus during their Group II match at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE on Sunday. — AP

From a child refugee to facing India's galacticos at the World Cup, Hamid Hassan said on Tuesday that he never considered giving up on cricket, even if cricket threatened to give up on him.

Now 34, Hamid was part of the trailblazing Afghanistan squad which took the sport by storm a decade ago when they rose from the humble surrounds of World League Division Five.

He was always hard to ignore.

The first Afghan cricketer ever to play at Lord's, Hamid cut an intimidating sight at the 2015 50-over World Cup.

With the country making its debut at the global showpiece, Hamid painted the Afghan flag on his cheekbones as he roared into bowl.

He was also part of the first Afghanistan team to play in a T20 World Cup in 2010 in the Caribbean.

Two knee surgeries, as well as constant thigh problems, almost shunted him permanently into his country's cricket history books until this year's T20 World Cup.

On Sunday, after five years out of the international scene, Hamid returned and took 3-9 in the 62-run win over Namibia.

“We are mentally fine. We're physically super fine,” said Hamid, ahead of Wednesday's clash against India where a third win in four matches for Afghanistan will knock out the title favourites.

Hamid has taken 35 wickets in his truncated T20 International career at an impressive average of a shade over 15.
It's all a far cry from his early days.

When he was just six, he and his family fled their home in Jalalabad, becoming refugees in Pakistan.

Playing cricket in secret for fear of upsetting his father, Hamid caught the eye of former England skipper Mike Gatting in a youth game.

Gatting was so impressed that he invited Hamid to England where at the age of 20 he became the first Afghan to play at Lord's as part of the MCC's Young Cricketers initiative.


'Believe in myself'

Now he is one of his team's senior citizens in the UAE where a World Cup semi-final place is tantalisingly within reach.

“I believe in myself, I never give up,” said Hamid.

“When you target something to achieve, you have to work very hard. I trained very hard, worked very hard for this opportunity to get here.”

So far at the World Cup, Afghanistan have played fearless, carefree cricket piling up 190 against Scotland, 147 facing Pakistan and then 160 in the win over Namibia.

Afghanistan have hit 22 sixes in three games with eight of their players getting on the board for a maximum score.

They also boast an intriguing cocktail of muscular batsmen, accurate fast bowlers and a company of spinners which is the envy of the tournament.

“You see batting, bowling, fielding is much improved. We have some of the best spinners in the world, Mujeeb [Ur Rahman] and Rashid [Khan],” said Hamid.

“It's a proper complete squad. If you see the top of the order, sometimes they click, sometimes they're stuck.”

He added: “But the good news is we haven't got out all the wickets so far, just five or six batsmen out. Most of the batsmen can hit. So we have [a] good opportunity against India, if we score good runs on the board, we defeat them by bowling and fielding.”

Meanwhile, the ICC on Tuesday approved Sharafudin Ashraf as a replacement for Asghar Afghan who retired midway through the tournament at the weekend.

All-rounder Sharafudin has played 17 ODIs and nine T20Is.
 
.
Don't see India winning this 3 games they have had 3 different teams.
 
.
Afghanistan have deviated from their strategy and chosen to chase here because of the threat of the dew. This is only the third time in their last 16 won tosses that they have chosen to chase.

Although batting first brings bigger net-run-rate boost, India would have fielded first themselves for the same reasons, which tells you a little bit about the respect for Afghanistan too because you can't really steamroll them.

Unfortunately for Afghanistan, Mujeeb ur Rahman is still not fit. His one-time captain, though, R Ashwin, is making his comeback in limited-overs international. The last time he played in coloured clothing for India was way back in 2017. In T20 internationals, Sanju Samson and Dinesh Karthik have had longer layoffs. Suryakumar Yadav replaces Ishan Kishan, the only Indian batter with a decent record against Rashid Khan.


India
1 RG Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 V Kohli (capt.), 4 SA Yadav, 5 RR Pant(wk), 6 HH Pandya, 7 RA Jadeja, 8 SN Thakur, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 JJ Bumrah

Afghanistan
1 Hazratullah Zazai, 2 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 3 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 4 Najibullah Zadran, 5 Mohammad Nabi(capt.), 6 Gulbadin Naib, 7 Karim Janat, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Sharafuddin Ashraf, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Hamid Hassan
 
.
basically a dead rubber, and will be considered a loss for India if they don't do anything spectacular

and har gaye to bezti hi bezti lol
chosen to chase here because of the threat of the dew.
Yep, no excuses for poor performances but India have been a bit unlucky with the toss and dew.
 
.
32nd Match, Group 2, Dubai (DSC), Nov 3 2021, ICC Men's T20 World Cup

New Zealand Flag

New Zealand
172/5
Scotland Flag

Scotland

(20 ov, target 173)156/5

New Zealand won by 16 runs
 
.
:coffee: Afghan Spinners could shock India
Time for Afghanistan to crumble Indian pride
 
.
Mujeeb ur Rehman injured, that's surely a huge disadvantage for Afghanistan. Would have been 4 difficult overs in addition to Nabi and Rashid's overs.

Afghan has won the toss though so match seems evenly poised, let's see
 
. . .
What does the other result mean?

New Zealand meanwhile have won against Scotland, which neither of these teams will like, but they have won by just 16 runs. Barring the upset, this was the next-best thing for these sides. new Zealand's net-run-rate boost is not big from this match so if it does come down to net-run-rate, these teams will have a chance. Currently, Afghanistan have a strong net-run-rate of 3.097, followed by New Zealand's 0.816 and India's -1.609. If if it does come down to NRR, India have the advantage of playing the last game, that too against Namibia.
 
. .
33rd Match, Group 2 (N), Abu Dhabi, Nov 3 2021, ICC Men's T20 World Cup

India Flag

India
(2/20 ov).....................23/0
Afghanistan Flag

Afghanistan


Afghanistan chose to field.

Current RR: 11.50
 
.
I am sure ravi shastri is dead. I just saw him. He looks dead
Stadium very empty today no Bollywood stars in audience

"Khali Stadium" , no supporters
Bollywood movie coming...

I5I sabotaged Indian cricket
Afghanistan are gift wrapping the balls with pretty ribbons...


This is not Afghanistan
 
.
Back
Top Bottom