India’s second match of the 2023 edition of the Cricket World Cup against Afghanistan will be hosted at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Delhi pitch has historically proven not to be spin-friendly in contrast to India’s last campaign in Chennai. So, it would be interesting to see how Rohit Sharma rotates his bowlers today.
India successfully kicked off their campaign with a momentous win over Australia, in a low-scoring game with the target of 200 runs. Despite initial setbacks, a colossal Kohli and the resurgent KL Rahul held the reins of India’s chase and steered them to a fabulous victory with a good margin of 52 balls in hand. This has given the hosts a boost in their run rate right from the start.
India utilized its spin prowess in the form of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin on the spin-friendly Chepauk track against Australia. But this match would be on a more pace-con conducive Delhi pitch. Coach Rahul Dravid has called for an adaptive approach, hence we could see Shardul Thakur making a comeback to the side at the cost of R Ashwin. Jadeja will be given a preference over Ashwin for his stellar all-round performance and lightning-like fielding prowess.
Apart from this, India is unlikely to make any more changes to the side that has proved its mettle in their opening match.
India predicted XI vs Australia, World Cup 2023:
- Openers: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan
- Top and middle-order: Virat Kohli, KL Rahul(wk), Shreyas Iyer
- All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur
- Spinner: Kuldeep Yadav
- Pacers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
The Indian batters would be looking forward to embarking on a run-scoring blitz at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Kohli missed out on his ton previously but he would love to make amends today, if he does then he would be just one century away from equaling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries in ODIs.
The two sides haven’t clashed as often as the fans would like but Afghanistan has always showcased its resilience in clashes against Giants like India. So far India has come to the top all three times there was a contest between them.
In Tuesday’s Pakistan and Sri Lanka clash, opener Abdullah Shafique and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan smashed glitzy centuries as Pakistan chased down Sri Lanka’s 345-run target, defeating them by six wickets in a high-scoring World Cup match.