Afghanistan will watch the India-Australia clash with bated breath, hoping that the ‘Men in Blue’ stand on the winning side -- a result which will hand them a golden opportunity to qualify for the T20 World Cup semifinals when they take on Bangladesh in their Super Eights match.
Afghanistan augmented its chances of making its first-ever World Cup semifinal when it downed the mighty Australians on Saturday.
As things stand, India lead the group followed by Australia and Afghanistan -- both on 2 points each -- and Bangladesh is last.
Rohit Sharma and his men are favourites to qualify for the final-four with a net run rate of 2.425 while Australia (0.223) has superior NRR compared to Afghanistan (-0.650).
Rashid Khan and Co. will hope India do them a favour by beating Australia so that they enter the clash knowing exactly what they require to do for making the semifinals.
But if Australia win, it will be an uphill task for Afghanistan to overtake the former champions on NRR. Having said that, Afghanistan will be super high on confidence having exacted revenge from Australia for their ODI World Cup loss last year in Mumbai.
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Irrespective of the India-Australia result, the Afghans would fancy their chances against a down-and-out Bangladesh, who seemed happy just to progress to the Super Eights.
That Afghanistan has the skills and mindset to excel in the format is not up for debate. It has proved that it is no longer a side reliant on just its bowling unit to eke out victories.
Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the leading run-getter, and Ibrahim Zadran have set the tournament ablaze with their sensational hitting.
Additionally, the Afghans are enjoying the conditions that the Caribbean pitches are offering. Having a plethora of quality all-rounders has only helped their cause.
It will take on Bangladesh at the same venue where it defeated Australia and the spin friendly conditions will aide them.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, has already given up. Although it do has a minuscule chance of progressing to the semifinals, back-to-back defeats against Australia and India has deflated its confidence.
“To be honest, I don’t think we have a chance to play the semifinal anymore after this loss (against India),” senior all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said on Saturday.
Bangladesh has struggled with its batting throughout the tournament. The lack of power-hitters has also hurt it. The underwhelming performance of opener Litton Das and Tanzid Khan has also compounded its woes.
However, Towid Hridoy and leg spinner Rishad Hossain have impressed with their performance.The game against Afghanistan is an opportunity for them to end their campiagn on a high.
“But having said that, the next game will be an opportunity for us to get a win on our belt before we finish up this tournament,” Shakib said, “We’d love to finish this tournament on a high. We have to face Afghanistan which is a very good side. So, we have to be at our best to be able to win against them,” he added.
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