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Abhishek Singh ∙ 24 Oct 2021

T20 World Cup | AFG vs SCO: Mohammad Nabi and co. need to yard out Scotland to begin their campaign

It’s yet another World Cup and once again Afghanistan team is in contention, not for making it to the semi-finals but at least upsetting one or two against and making their road difficult for them to reach the semi-finals. That road would however have to be travelled through by meaning out the so-called easy challenges, the first of which is in the form of Scotland. But it would be no easy challenge by any means, to say the least. Different routes to the Super 12 Leading up to the World Cup, the last few months haven’t been easy for the Afghanistan team. The regime change in their country meant that its coaches Lance Klusener, Shaun Tait and recently inducted Andy Flower were not in contact with the entire team for quite some time. Hence the time together that the team has spent with all its staff is even less than a month. But even after that, the kind of form that the Afghan side has shown in the warm-up games has been amazing. They beat defending champions West Indies outrightly and gave a tough time to South Africa too. On the other hand, Scotland, which is not a permanent member of the ICC, has done exceedingly well coming into the Super 12. They beat Bangladesh in their first match and then kept their composure to win against Oman and Papua New Guinea to get through to the next round for the first time in their history. Even their preparation coming into the World Cup as they won three out of four games before the tournament which included two warm-up games, but all those matches were against Associate nations. Thus taking them lightly would be no good to Afghanistan at all. What's at stake? For Afghanistan, this is a game that could very well shape their campaign. With Pakistan beating India comprehensively in their first match, Afghanistan wouldn’t have it easy in their second game against the neighbours. Hence if they lose even their first game, they would be very low on confidence going into the big game. For Scotland, it is an occasion to show their skills and what they are made up of. If they win this one and can get one past Namibia, then not only would they give a better account of themselves, but could also bring in a lot of funding to their game. Now that they already have an ODI status, and with ICC already having 13 teams in the ICC Super League, they might as well make their case for a 14 team Super League and get more chances at the bigger stage. Afghanistan vs Scotland: Match Details Match Number - 17 Date and Time: October 25, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 06:00 pm Local, 2:00 pm GMT Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The wicket at Sharjah in the last game played well as even a total beyond 170 was chased by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh which had a formidable bowling attack. Agreed that the Bangladeshi team made a lot of errors and dropped crucial catches, but still, the wicket was better than before for stroke-making and hence Scottish players, if they can apply themselves a bit better, could pose a decent enough challenge for the Afghans. Weather Forecast The temperatures in the evening are going to remain in between the higher twenties to mid-thirties throughout the game. Humidity will be low, below 45 and hence not much sweating for the players as compared to the recently concluded IPL. This would also mean that there would be dew as the evening approaches night. Thus the best bet in such conditions would be to win the toss and bowl first, give your spinners a chance to use the wicket first and try and extract some help. Chasing would be easy as the ball would skid along. Team News Afghanistan The Afghan side would be chummed with its last warm-up game and would like to get a smooth combination going with PSL star Hazratullah Zazai and in form Mohammad Shahzad opening the batting. Rahmatullah Gurbaz and Asghar Afghan in the middle are more than good enough to build the innings and with the finishing abilities of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, the batting lineup looks as good as any. The fact that Afghanistan are lacking in fast bowler is a problem that might haunt them a little. Probable XI Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Hamid Hassan Scotland Scotland on the other hand would look to continue with the winning momentum and anyway tier spinners have done well, so no point in bringing about any change in the Playing XI. Probable XI George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Safyaan Sharif, Bradley Wheal CE XI Fantasy team Wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad Batters Hazratullah Zazai, George Munsey, Calum MacLeod All-rounders Richie Berrington, Chris Greaves, Mohammad Nabi Bowlers Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman Vice-Captain Richie Berrington Captain Mohammad Nabi

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T20 World Cup | AFG vs SCO: Mohammad Nabi and co. need to yard out Scotland to begin their campaign