One group in this tournament has gone zen, while the other is immersed in a full-blown rock concert. It’s chaotic in Group B. One slip and your team boards the first flight home. For Afghanistan and England, every game from here on is a must-win. But one of these sides will be relieved of that pressure by the end of this game, though not in the way they would fancy. In other words, whichever team loses in Lahore, will play their last game as a dead rubber.
England would not want to be that team, not after crashing prematurely out of their last two ICC events. But to do that, they will need to shake off the flashbacks of what happened when they last played Afghanistan in an ODI mega-event. In all fairness, it was not an upset when Afghanistan defeated them by 69 runs in Delhi. England deserved every bit of that humiliation as much as Afghanistan were worthy of that triumph. This time, however, their survival is on the line, which only makes it worse.
And that feeling won’t be occupying England’s mind alone. Afghanistan have just as much to lose. They underdelivered against South Africa, they know that. They missed cashing the chances and had to pay for that eventually. This is their last opportunity to make amends, and luckily for them, they have everything it takes to do it.
Team Overview:
Brydon Carse has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament and his replacement Rehan Ahmed has not reached Pakistan yet. This leaves England with one option and that is to slot Jamie Overton in. Even with Rehan in the country, Overton would have been the first choice to replace Carse. For starters, England have a vested interest in keeping their bowling attack functioning and without a third pacer that would become a distant dream. Apart from this change, the English are likely to go with the same XI.
Afghanistan largely relied on their openers to successfully carry out their game plan against South Africa. It was not exactly an unrealistic expectation, going by how the Afghan top-order has batted in recent times. But they faltered when it mattered the most. In fact, the entire batting lineup, excluding Rahmat Shah, fell like a house of cards. No matter how dominating their spinners fare against England, Afghanistan can hardly think of getting over the line without equal contributions from the batters.
Head-to-Head Matches:
England and Afghanistan have faced off in ODIs only three times. That’s a sample size too small to draw inferences, but England’s two wins to Afghanistan’s one, tells that both sides have a record competitive enough to rule out a one-sided game this time.
Weather and Pitch Report:
Halfway through the tournament, Pakistan’s sky decided to let the rain make an entry. Lahore is over a hundred miles south of Rawalpindi, where the match between Australia and South Africa was washed out, so the weather won’t be too threatening. The conditions will be overcast, which could make batting a tad difficult, especially against the new ball.
Prediction:
How this game ends will determine a lot, and neither of the two teams would want it to go against them. However, Afghanistan spinners might be the key difference between both sides.
Where to Watch:
Pakistan: Tapmad, PTV Sport, Ten Sports, Myco App
India: Star Sports Network, Network 18, JioCinema App
UK: Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Action, Sky Sport App
Australia: PrimeVideo
New Zealand: Sky Sports NZ, Sky Sports Now, Sky Go
Afghanistan: ATN
South Africa: SuperSport Network
Bangladesh: Nagorik TV, T Sports, Toffee app
Sri Lanka: Maharaja TV, Sirasa TV
USA: Willow TV
Caribbean: ESPN Caribbean App
MENA: StarzPlay, CricLife Max, CricLife Max 2
