Australian team celebrating on the left and Afghanistan team celebrating on the right. (Agencies)The clash between Australia and Afghanistan will decide who will go to the next stage of the tournament. It is a do-or-die for Afghanistan however, from Australian perspective even if they lose the contest they will be on three points and would be hoping for England to do them a favour in the final game of this group against South Africa.
Coming into the game Afghanistan have momentum on their side after the thrilling win they had against England. Australia too had a stunning win in their opening clash against the same opponent however, their last game against South Africa was a wash out at Rawalpindi.
Two left-armers?
Both Spencer Johnson and Ben Dwarshuis are left-armers in the Australian attack. While the latter did pick up a couple of early wickets did seem like he lost a bit of gas in the final over of the innings. Australia does have an experinced Sean Abbott warming the bench who not only is a decent bowler but also provides batting depth coming at number eight.
Spin to win
Regardless of the dew factor Afghanistan continued to play with three spinning options in their clash against England and it did bear them fruits. While Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed have looked a bit off-colour in this tournament so far regardless Afghanistan would be hoping the duo would get into form in the final group game and help the side qualify for the semi-final.
Head and Smith
Though the Australian batting line up did come through against England when they face Afghanistan they would need their experinced players at the top to start well to negotiate the Afghan spinners. Though Jos Inglis with his ton in Sri Lanka has showed he has the game to deal with the tweaekrs but the Afghan spinners are different challenge altogether and will need a different skill-set.
Australia predicted XI: Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
Afghanistan predicted XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
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