England vs Afghanistan: World Cup 2023 Preview and Predictions

Cricket

England vs Afghanistan: In their last game at Dharamsala, the defending champions defeated Bangladesh, earning their first victory of the competition.

After suffering a humiliating loss in the first game, England made a significant comeback. Afghanistan, on the other side, has thus far dropped two straight games.

Their most recent game was against India at the same Delhi location, and the hosts triumphed by 8 wickets after chasing down a 273-run mark.

Only twice in their history have the two sides faced off, in the World Cups in 2019 and 2015. England has Bairstow and Root, who were among the leading run scorers against Afghanistan in 2019. Eoin Morgan is not there this time.

The Afghan bowlers’ spirits must be low after India humiliated them. The English batting order is strong and includes several white-ball players.

The 13th ODI match between England vs Afghanistan will take place on October 15, 2023, at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Match Details to Note

Match: England vs Afghanistan 13th ODI

Date: October 1t5h, 2023 (Sunday)

Time: 02:00 PM IST

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

England vs Afghanistan

England (Match Odds- 1.09)

Preview

After a dismal opening game against New Zealand to the competition, Buttler must be pleased with the comeback. In their World Cup debut, England batted first and reached 282 runs with a strong finish.

At one point in their innings when wickets were falling, it was more than was anticipated, even if it wasn’t the perfect total on that track. Not being able to end the Conway-Ravindra stand and losing by nine wickets must have hurt the most in that match.

In the following game, Reece Topley replaced Moeen Ali and bowled 4 for 43 runs as England bowled out Bangladesh for 227 runs. Mark Wood again shown excellent economy, going 1 for 29 from 10 Overs.

England won by an enormous 137 runs because to some outstanding bowling. They ought to feel secure moving forward in the competition with the ball now. Other important bowlers in this lineup to keep an eye on are Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid.

Poor shot choices versus New Zealand were to blame for the frequent wickets and paucity of partnerships. They will have felt more confident when Dawid Malan scored a massive hundred and Bairstow and Root each scored fifty in the top 3.

Full Squad:

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.

Players to watch out for

Dawid Malan

In the last match England scored 364 runs against Bangladesh and the most runs came out of Dawid Malan’s bat. He scored an excellent century to grab England’s first win in this World Cup tournament.

Reece Topley

After Dawid Malan’s excellent knock what impressed the audience most was Topley’s bowling. He took 4 wickets and crashed Bangladesh’s batting line-up.

Possible Playing XI:

Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley

Afghanistan (Match Odds- 7.40)

Preview

Many of the players from their previous World Cup campaign are no longer on the roster to make room for the new ones. Although it is a generally promising team, it has not yet had an influence on this competition.

Although Hashmatullah Shahidi is a strong batter, his leadership skills will be put to the test throughout this competition. He is in charge of a bowling attack that is lacking in experience. Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Rashid Khan are still present, but the pace assault is brand-new.

These pacers are highly promising, but they don’t hold up as well against powerful teams like India or England. Shahidi was Afghanistan’s leading run scorer in their most recent game against England, with 76 runs at the number 4 position.

He will be a crucial middle-order batsman after the last game in Delhi, when he hit 80 runs against India. Another seasoned hitter in this lineup, Rahmat Shah, participated in the 2019 World Cup run.

Despite not looking fantastic thus far, he is an important player at number 3. Following the captain in the batting order are Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi at positions 5 and 6, respectively.

With skilled and seasoned batters all throughout, the middle of the order appears to be strong. At bat, Zadran is a steady batsman who can form partnerships and has demonstrated his talent in the past.

Full Squad:

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.

Players to watch out for:

Hashmatullah Shahidi

Shahidi was Afghanistan’s leading run scorer in their most recent game against England, with 76 runs at the number 4 position. He will be a crucial middle-order batsman after the last game in Delhi.

Ibrahim Zadran

At bat, Zadran is a steady batsman who can form partnerships and has demonstrated his talent in the past.

Possible Playing XI:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

England vs Afghanistan Head-To-Head

There have been two One Day International matches between England and Afghanistan. England has triumphed in two of these two matches, while Afghanistan has won just one.

England vs Afghanistan Toss Prediction

Teams have scored easily on this field thus far in this tournament since it is a fantastic batting environment. Following South Africa’s 400-run milestone, India quickly chased down 273 runs in just 35 overs. At this field, we believe that batting first and putting runs on the board will be wise moves.

England vs Afghanistan Pitch Report

Although traditionally it has not been a strong batting surface, so far in this tournament it has looked like a belter. The ball is going onto the bat wonderfully, so both innings should have plenty of runs.

Under the lights, the second inning’s ball might move a little bit, giving the new-ball bowlers an advantage. The second inning will also require talented bowlers with reverse swing. High temperature of 35 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy weather are forecast.

England vs Afghanistan Match Report

At the past World Cups, England has dominated Afghanistan in both of their meetings thus far. Unless the pitch begins moving and the Afghan spinners gain the upper hand, they will probably keep doing so. We anticipate that English hitters will dominate the game and put Afghanistan on the ropes. According to our match prediction, England will start as the obvious favourite.

England is predicted to win the match England vs Afghanistan at the odds of 1.09