Afghanistan takes on NewZealand in a virtual knock out game on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. The fate of as many as 3 teams are being associated with this single encounter.
•A win against Afghanistan would guarantee New Zealand's qualification in the Semi Finals.
•Afghanistan needs to win it big and handsomely over the Kiwis to make a stake at the top 4 berth.
•If Afghanistan beats New Zealand by a decent margin then it will throw wide open and hosts India would come into the equation too.
India is scheduled to meet Namibia in their last league game and are the likely favourites in that match. If Afghanistan achieves the task of toppling New Zealand, then India will have to beat Namibia with a margin so that their NRR remains higher than Afghanistan. Remember, India has the best Net Run Rate (NRR) in their entire group with +1.619.
The Indian team would all have their eyes and prayers set on the Afghanistan team and hope that they overcome the New Zealand hurdle.
Now after discussing the pre-match scenarios let us address the elephant in the room.
Can Afghanistan beat New Zealand. If yes, then what can be the factors?
Let's analyze:
•Bat first:
As it is a day game it will be ideal for Afghanistan to win the toss and bat first. Afghanistan has not been a good chaser in T20 cricket and majority of their wins has come while batting first. So instead of focussing the template of chasing in the tournament, Afghanistan must look to bat first and post a formidable total. Then they can restrict the opponent with the spin artistry at their disposal.
•Play the natural game:
The Afghanistan team is known to play an entertaining brand of cricket. Their batsmen play fearlessly, hit long boundaries, post a good total and then the spin trio of Rashid-Mujeeb-Nabi bowl out the opponents from the game. This has been the tested and proven template for Afghanistan over the years and if they need to go past New Zealand they must stick to their natural way of playing.
•The Mujeeb factor:
The absence of Mujeeb ur Rahman has hurt Afghanistan's chances the most. The mystery spinner who already has a 5 wicket haul in this tournament. Mujeeb has been Afghanistan's best bowler picking six wickets at an average of 5.66, an economy rate of 4.25 and a strike rate of 8 in the 2 games he played. There is still darkness over the participation of Mujeeb who is currently nursing an injury but there are strong possibilities that he may take the ground against New Zealand.
•Focus more on own strengths rather than opponent's:
Aggresive batting and spin has been Afghanistan's strength so far and it is the only aspect that sets them apart from other teams. Although there have been talks of the New Zealand bowlers wrecking havoc over the Afghan batsmen or the batsmen going berserk after the Afghan pacers, Md Nabi and co must put that to rest and focus on the job in hands.
•Shoulder more responsibility:
The Afghanistan team has played a good brand of cricket but failing to win crunch situations has costed them a lot. The Afghan team has often been found reckless in order to be more flamboyant and let the game slip away from them. The likes of Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Mohammad Shahzad has enough experience in the bank and they must shoulder more responsibilities against New Zealand to set them through.
With all have being said than done, we should keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.
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