The hosts continue their attempt to win the Cricket World Cup on home soil and next up, take on Afghanistan in Delhi on Wednesday (09:30). We’ve previewed the game and given you a couple of our best bets.
India (1/8) looked really impressive in their opening game, restricting Australia to under 200 and then knocking the runs off for the loss of just four wickets.
Next up, is what looks on paper, a regulation game against an Afghanistan (5/1) side that really struggled against Bangladesh in their opening fixture, being skittled out for just 156.
Rohit Sharma’s side are huge favourites for this game and it’s hard to see how the Afghani’s can really hurt the cricketing powerhouse.
Team news
India will resist the temptation to promote KL Rahul to number 4 in the batting order, despite his hugely impressive 97*. However, the hosts have spoken of the need and ability in the squad to adapt to different playing conditions and will rotate their team to suit. Shubman Gill should be recalled though after illness forced him out of the game against Australia.
India (probable): Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Afghanistan selected their strongest XI for the loss to Bangladesh and I assume they will do so again here, in an effort to give them a chance to prove themselves.
Afghanistan (probable): Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
KL Rahul top IND run scorer – 9/2
The former opener is a class act in the one-day format and is averaging almost 50 across his 59 innings to date.
His partnership with Virat Kohli against Australia was one of calmness and not offering up many chances and his 97* was his third half century in his last four innings against them.
With the top order falling cheaply against the Aussies, Rahul offers a degree of comfort in the middle order.
Ravindra Jadeja top IND wicket taker – 10/3
When India needed a wicket in the middle overs against Australia, there was one man that Rohit Sharma was going to throw the ball to.
Jadeja simply makes things happen and is able to vary up his pace expertly to elicit a false shot.
The 34-year-old is now one of the first names on the India team sheet and is a legitimate all-rounder option in the middle order.
Jadeja took three wickets in the opener, taking him to over 200 wickets for his ODI career.
