Afghanistan
Pakistan
Afghanistan witnessed a disappointing end to the first ODI and an embarrassing defeat will hamper their confidence for the 2nd ODI. The 2nd ODI of the series is scheduled to take place on Thursday at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.
Afghanistan will be low on morale but will be looking forward to making a comeback in the series and not giving the opposition any chance to dominate the game.
Pakistan were ferocious with their bowling and completely outnumbered the batters from the opposition in the first ODI. The top bookmakers in India have odds for this particular series with them.
AfghanistanPakistanBowling first, Afghanistan had a positive start as they broke the opening partnership of the opposition at an early stage. Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up 3 wickets in 10 overs at an economy of 3.30. Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan picked up 2 wickets each at an economy of 3.40 and 4.20 respectively. However, things completely took a U-turn when Afghanistan came to bat. Their batting lineup was decimated like a house of cards and the inning was over at a score of 59 in 19.2 overs.
The spin trio - Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi will be the key players for Afghanistan.
Predicted Lineup: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Abdul Rahman, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
After winning the toss, Pakistan chose to bat first but they didn't have a good start. Fakhar Zaman and skipper Babar Azam lost their wickets at an early stage but Imam-Ul-Haq maintained his calm and scored 61 off 94 balls at a strike rate of 64.89. Iftikhar Ahmed (30 off 41) and Shadab Khan (39 off 50) played a cameo at the lower end and took the score to 200. After disappointing batting, Pakistan bounced back with their bowling attack and Haris Rauf picked up a fiver in 6.2 overs at an economy of 2.84. Shaheen Afridi contributed with two wickets in 4 overs at an economy of 2.25.
Skipper Babar Azam would expect some runs from the middle order and he himself would like to play a solid inning.
Predicted Lineup: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Iftikhar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Agha Salman, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
Afghanistan displayed every weakness in the first ODI and Pakistan received the benefit of it. The former carries the capability to bounce back but Pakistan’s bowlers are in positive form and won’t allow the opposition to score runs. We predict a win for Pakistan in the 2nd ODI.
