The battle between a bowling-dominant side and a batting-dominant side, it’s Afghanistan vs England at the Arun Jaitely Stadium.
Afghanistan have lost both of their opening two encounters badly. Both batting and bowling aren’t up to the mark, they are unable to find wickets at the right time and bat sensibly with a sign of aggression.
England after getting a shocker in the opening game of the tournament came back stronger and demolished Bangladesh by a huge margin of 137 runs, also boosting their net run rate.
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s batting is too much reliant on the duo of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, both have failed to score runs, thus resulting in Afghanistan’s batting failure.
Afghanistan’s middle order still plays old-school approach cricket whereas many teams play aggressively throughout the innings. Differences in approaches have widened the gap between Afghanistan and other teams.
Afghanistan bowlers also aren’t up to the mark according to their potential. Although they didn’t have enough runs to defend in both matches, the bowlers were clueless most of the time.
England
England’s approach to attack has been copied by many teams. With the likes of Dawid Malan, Johnny Bairstow and Joe Root in the top order, England can demolish any bowling lineup on their given day. Their bowling was considered a bit weak but the way Topley demolished Bangladesh, it looks threatening as well. England came 3rd in 2 two-horse race in the first match but made a statement in the second encounter.
Probable Playing XI
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen Ul Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
With the inconsistent performances of Rahmat Shah, Riaz Hassan could make the playing sheet above him.
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c, wk), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley.
With uncertainty over Ben Stokes’s participation, Harry Brook is likely to play. Either of Liam Livingstone or Moeen Ali will get the second spinner spot in the playing XI.
Pitch Report
Delhi’s pitch has been a batting paradise till now with 1300 runs being scored in just 2 matches. Batters will enjoy the pitch, they just need to handle Delhi’s heat. Bowlers on the other hand will be the ones who will suffer. The pitch has nothing for the bowlers. Bowlers need to try some variations to anyhow stop the batters from scoring as many as runs possible. Bowlers need to be very disciplined with their line and length on these types of surfaces.
Players To Watch Out For
Dawid Malan
Dawid Malan has been England’s top run-getter in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup. He has scored 6 centuries in just 23 ODI innings being the quickest to do so. He has shown his class against Bangladesh by scoring a 140 from just 107 balls giving the momentum to other upcoming batters. In 2023, he has 4 centuries to his name. England would be hoping that Malan’s prime continues and helps them in reaching glory again.
Joe Root
Joe Root has always been England’s man of crisis, whether it be red ball or white ball. Joe Root wasn’t in form in the ODI series vs New Zealand just before the World Cup but has come to the World Cup with a bang, scoring 2 back-to-back fifties. He missed out on the century and would be hoping to score one in the upcoming fixtures. England’s batting is still heavenly depending on Joe Root’s performance.
Ibrahim Zadran
One of the two pillars of the Afghani batting lineup hasn’t come well into the World Cup but would be hoping to turn this down and show his impact on the big stage. Alongside Gurbaz, Afghanistan’s batting depends on the form of these two batters. Their failure means Afghanistan’s failure, so Ibrahim Zadran would be looking to bat sensibly with Gurbaz been the attacker.
ENG vs AFG Dream11 Team for Match 13 of 2023 WC
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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