Defending champion England favourite against winless Afghanistan in today's match
Cricket
Stern English test awaits Afghanistan
(Web Desk) - The games continue to come thick and fast in the 2023 ODI World Cup, and it is now time for match number 13, which sees England square off against Afghanistan on Sunday (today) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
As things stand, England have one win from their two games played, whereas Afghanistan have suffered two losses in as many games and are yet to get off the mark in the competition.
After suffering a crushing defeat to New Zealand on the opening night in Ahmedabad, the defending champions registered a convincing win against Bangladesh in their next game.
Dawid Malan's 140 and Joe Root's 82 were backed up with contributions from the rest of the batters, as England managed to post 364 runs on the board. With the ball, Reece Topley put on an absolute clinic of seam bowling and broke the back of the Bangladesh batting unit.
At one stage in the game, England were on course to post 400, but the likes of Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, and Harry Brook in the middle order were unable to convert their starts.
Despite the win, the form of middle-order batters is an issue, and they will hope to return to form soon. Also, uncertainty looms large over the fitness of Ben Stokes, who is yet to feature at this World Cup for England.
It was a near-perfect effort with the ball in Dharamsala, and it would require something similar in Delhi, which is a batting paradise.
Chris Woakes and Sam Curran were a bit expensive by their standards, but the tidy spells from Mark Wood and Reece Topley made up for it.
Having left out Moeen Ali in the last game, it will be interesting to see whether they bring him back or stick with the same winning combination.
On the other hand, Afghanistan have had a far-from-ideal start to their World Cup campaign, conceding back-to-back losses.
After a flop show with the bat against Bangladesh in the first game, their batters stepped up against India, which allowed them to post a competitive total.
However, their new-ball attack was unable to set the tone as Rohit Sharma took them to the cleaners and took the game away from Afghanistan inside the first ten overs. The silver lining for them in this heavy loss was that the likes of Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai returned to form.
Their top order, comprising Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, and Rahmat Shah, has been among the runs in recent times, and the Afghans will be hoping that the batting clicks collectively.
In what was an off day for the bowling unit, Rashid Khan stood out without much support from the other end.
Their ace pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi leaked boundaries consistently, as did the spin of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and the duo will be required to pull up their socks against the strong English batting unit.
If they wish to strengthen their bowling, wrist spinner Noor Ahmad might get a look in, whose Indian T20 League experience will come in handy.
The previous ODI meeting between these two sides took place during the 2019 ODI World Cup, where England came out on top comfortably.
Will England extend their dominance? Or do Afghanistan have it in them to pull off an upset? We will find out together.
EXPECTED SQUADS
AFGHANISTAN: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq.
ENGLAND: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
