Afghanistan
England
In the 13th fixture of the World Cup 2023, England will be facing Afghanistan on Sunday at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Both teams have met twice in the ODI setup and England has come out winners on both occasions.
After a disappointing start to the tournament against New Zealand, England bounced back with a dominating win against Bangladesh and now they will be looking forward to continuing the momentum against Afghanistan as well.
Afghanistan witnessed their second loss against India in the tournament. With every loss, the situation is getting complicated for the team and they need to work out a strategy to bounce back. The top bookmakers in India have World Cup odds with them.
In the last five ODIs, Malan has scored 431 runs at an average of 86.2 and has been a major contributor at the top-order.
The betting tip is...
Dawid Malan to score 100
61 %
39 %
AfghanistanEnglandAfghanistan had a below-average start to the match against India. The top order consisted, of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21 off 28), Ibrahim Zadran (22 off 28), and Rahmat Shah (16 off 22) failed to give the team a good start. It was the middle order of the team which gave the team the required stability.
Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (80 off 88) and Azmatullah Omarzi (62 off 69) built a strong partnership during the middle overs of team India. Their partnership gave a major push to the overall score of the team.
The bowling lineup of Afghanistan completely failed to fulfill the expectations. Except for Rashid Khan, who picked up 2 wickets, none of the bowlers were able to pick wickets during the initial overs and hence couldn't control the game from the beginning. Two consecutive losses will definitely hurt the team's morale for the rest of the tournament.
There won’t be any changes in the Afghanistan squad but the team management should have some tough discussions with the top order of the team.
Predicted Lineup: Naveen ul Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Ibrahim Zadran
England was in a dominating mood against Bangladesh and it was visible the way they started the match and showcased their batting depth. Jonny Bairstow (52 off 59), Dawid Malan (140 off 107), and Joe Root (82 off 68) gave a blistering start to the team at the top order. Joe Root became the highest scorer in the ODI World Cup from England and made a new record in his name.
However, the middle-order of the English squad again faced difficulty in scoring runs. Jos Buttler (20 off 10) and Harry Brook (20 off 15) were unable to maintain the momentum of scoring runs and Liam Livingstone lost his wicket without scoring any runs. On the bowling front, Reece Topley’s 4-wicket haul at an economy of 4.30 was the highlight. Chirs Woaks also stepped up to the occasion and picked up 2 wickets at an economy of 6.13.
Dawid Malan will be in the spotlight because of his performance in the previous match. In the year 2023, Malan has scored 745 runs at an average of 74.50 in 11 ODIs.
Ben Stokes is still not fit to join the team and might miss out on the third fixture as well.
Predicted Lineup: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Neither England nor Afghanistan have much experience of playing against each other in the ODI format and hence we are in for an absolute thriller. England would have regained their confidence with a dominating win over Bangladesh.
Afghanistan’s bowling department is their major weakness and England’s betters will get the benefit of the same. We predict a win for England on Sunday.
