Ravi Speaks:-
Look at the stage as on date -we the Indians are desperately praying for the luck to be on our side tomorrow on 7th’Nov’2021. Because tomorrow it is not India playing but Afghanistan and New Zealand clashing for the position in the top two. Here the key is the loss to New Zealand and wins to Afghanistan-which would give a big sigh of relief to the Indians. It is perhaps for the first time for Indians if I remember that the third country not in the fray is praying for one Afghanistan to win over New Zealand. Simply for their possibility to come in the top two positions.
India has the advantage of playing the last Group 2 game and will know the NRR calculations at play. But for that NZ needs to first lose. India’s thrashing of Scotland, with an unbelievable 81 balls to spare, means India is well and truly in the hunt for a top-two finish in the group. With three matches left in the group, three teams are still in contention for the second semi-final spot. Here is a look at how each team can make it.
Just have a close look at the below table as on date:-
The yellow color depicts the match between New Zealand and Afghanistan tomorrow on 7th Nov. and the red color of India shows the present status of India still at a distance. India no doubt has improved their run rate enormously and based on that only we all the Indians pray our country to be featuring in the semis.
Let us see in detail the strengths of Afghanistan:-
With an arsenal of spinners and explosive hitters, Afghanistan goes into the Super 12 stage with every reason to be confident. Especially after beating Zimbabwe 3-0 in a recent T20I series. Given their strengths with and against the turning ball, they will be hopeful. Conditions in the tournament are to their liking.
Head-to-head record against other teams in the group
Afghanistan has yet to beat any of their Group 2 opponents, losing twice to India and once to Pakistan in their history. They are yet to face New Zealand in a T20 international.
Top-ranked batter: Hazratullah Zazai (12th) – The aggressive left-hander has excelled for Afghanistan since 2016, climbing as high as fifth on the batting rankings in 2019, and they will be hoping he finds his groove at the World Cup. An in-form Hazratullah makes Afghanistan a much more dangerous proposition.
Top-ranked bowler: Rashid Khan (2nd) – A constant near the top of the T20I bowling rankings, Rashid Khan is the fourth greatest wicket-taker in men’s T20I history and it would be a shock if he didn’t finish his career on top of the charts. Averaging a scarcely believable 12.63 with an economy of 6.21, he’ll be keeping plenty of batters up at night.
Won by 47 runs against Zimbabwe at Abu Dhabi
Won by 45 runs against Zimbabwe at Abu Dhabi
Won by 48 runs against Zimbabwe at Abu Dhabi
Tied (lost super over) against Ireland at Greater Noida
Won by 21 runs against Ireland at Greater Noida
Rashid Khan (captain): “I’m a great believer that a captain is as good as his team. It is my duty now to serve my country & my team.”
If we see the New Zealand team -there is no doubt that it is far superior to Afghanistan. Still, we have strong hopes/prayers for the Afghanistan team to play stronger and win against powerful New Zealand.
New Zealand has shown average performances in T20 Internationals. As of October 2021, New Zealand has played 150 T20I matches and won 73 of them, lost 65, 8 matches ended as a tie whilst 4 matches yielded no result.
Against Afghanistan New Zealand has not lost any match so far and has beaten Afghanistan on all the two occasions it played with them.
Gavaskar had made a very strong observation not to mingle up with the team positioning of the players before the New Zealand match. But what happened afterward is known to one and all. The former India captain said that the clash between Rohit Sharma and Trent Boult will make India vs New Zealand match exciting. In the first match, Rohit was dismissed without opening an account in the first ball of Pakistan’s bowling Shaheen Shah Afridi. Shaheen is also a left-arm bowler and swings the ball well. Bolt is also one such bowler. Shaheen has more experience on Bolt. But the batting order changes in the Indian squad did not respond to Gavaskar’s caution given well in the time immediately after the defeat from Pakistan.
I Hope India gets to that position, for which we sincerely pray. The lady luck comes to our side today and Afghanistan wins against New Zealand, India would thank its stars and go on very strongly ahead with the real prowess. This we could feel in the last two matches against smaller teams based on their outstanding performance.
Final Cricket-Lesson:-Even the forecasted T20 champions like India, because of their earlier dismal performances and despite the extra coaches and mentors put- have to bow before the mighty factor LUCK to play its magical game in a third party clash.
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