India came into the ‘super eight’ stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, on the back of their three consecutive wins over Ireland, Pakistan, and co-host United States of America, besides a washout result against Canada. Afghanistan lost their only group game against West Indies in St. Lucia. The Afg vs Ind ‘super eight’ game will take place at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 20.
India didn’t get a game in their last affair against Canada the wet weather in the Central Broward Park Stadium in Lauderhill washed out the Canada game. This Afg vs Ind contest is also going to be India’s first game in the Caribbean, during this tournament.
In the first encounter for the inaugural champions of the competition, they quite easily bundled out the Ireland side under a total of under 100, besides chasing it down quite comprehensively. In their second fixture against Pakistan, the bowlers lifted the energy of the team, by earning a six-run victory from the jaws of defeat.
Coming into this first game of the second round- Afg vs Ind, the latter’s camp will be high on confidence after their special chase against USA at the Nassau County Stadium, where they were in a critical position after three down, early in the innings.
The blue brigade, and especially their batters have to be careful about how their batters perform in this stage of the tournament. They are coming on the back of a ground where run-scoring was such a hard job, now suddenly they have to shift the gears to go aggressive in this Afg vs Ind affair.
The Afghanistan side has been going through an excellent tournament, where they showed the skill and ability of playing in those slow and low surfaces of the Caribbean. In their very first group-stage game of the competition, the Rashid Khan-led side showed their power with a 125-run win against Uganda, who got bundled out for just 58.
New Zealand were blown away by the Afghanistan side, as they were blown away for just 75 runs, gifting the opponents an 84-tun victory, and that was enough for them to book the returning tickets a bit earlier than they perhaps expected in the competition.
The Afg vs Ind game in Barbados is expected to be another high-scoring affair where the batters will enjoy the pitch which has been hard throughout the tournament, and shouldering onto the run-scoring fests so far.
Last Five T20I for AFG vs IND
In the last five T20s of these two teams, the Indian side is unbeaten with a 4-0 margin, including one washout result in 2023.
Group Stage Journey of India and Afghanistan
India:
Match 1: Beat Ireland by 8 wickets.
Match 2: Beat Pakistan by 6 runs.
Match 3: Beat United States America by 7 wickets.
Match 4: Match abandoned to Canada
Afghanistan:
Match 1: Beat Uganda by 125 runs.
Match 2: Beat New Zealand by 84 runs.
Match 3: Beat Papua New Guinea by 7 wickets.
Match 4: Lost to West Indies by 104 runs.
AFG vs IND Teams:
India
Ind Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk.), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.
Afghanistan
Afg Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk.), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan (c), Noor Ahmed, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.