*AFGHANISTAN VS PAKISTAN THIRD ODI 2023 PREVIEW*
*THE BUILD UP:*
*PAKISTAN CRICKET- AN UNPREDICTABLE PHENOMENA*
They left the field having rattled the Afghan Atalans in the first ODI only to follow that up with an extremely close game where a tailender had to step in and complete the duties. Pakistan are a weird cricketing nation. While their pacers were quite literally unplayable in the first ODI, they returned back with a mediocre outing- having failed to remove the opening stand for so long. It goes without saying that Nasser Hussain was 100 percent correct when he said that Pakistan Cricket is one minute up and the next minute down.
Where their batting is concerned, it was scratchy again. The middle order needs players who can tackle their spinners (Afghani spinners) well and put pressure at the same time. After that epic Babar and Imam stand which had steadied the ship, the middle order crumbled and the hopes were pinned for a lower order special. Matters shouldn’t reach them in normal situations and come the Asia Cup, problems like these could turn into something major. Pakistan would look to rectify that by bringing in Saud Shakeel who is an excellent manoeuvre of the cricket field and plays spin with style and grace. He needs to be a fit in in order to help Pakistan get out of this web.
The Afghanis need a makeover of their ODI batting mindset. Despite their openers batting so well and getting them off a flier, how they finished things off was a disaster. If the track was good for batting, the score should have gone past the 350 mark in order to cement a place of consolidation as scores of 300s these days in this format are pointless and not worth considering. On top of this, Naveen Ul Haq needs to be given a look in specially after how Farooqi has let loose loads of times to allow the opposition to pounce on the opportunity and make merry. The fact that the left armer allowed Naseem Shah to single handedly finish the game was absurd and needs serious thinking.
*AFGHANISTAN PROBABLE XI:*
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Shahidullah Kamal
Gurbaz and Ibrahim were a class apart last game. They tore apart a world class bowling unit of Pakistan that were breathing fire in the first ODI. Marked improvement and it shows that the Afghans are eager to learn quickly. Their style of play was a testimony to how Afgh are approaching this format and this 151 from Gurbaz only goes onto strengthen his rep and image as an opener, a talented Asian opener. Shaheen would love to get his wicket early by extracting sone early swing from the surface. If he negates that, he should be in for a stay specially given how masterfully he played the others in ODI number 2.
Hard to see Rashid Khan play a game, bowl out his quota and not get wickets. He lacked the groove last game and the legend would be eager to get things back on track with a spell to remember which would help Afghanistan achieve a consolation victory. I am interested to find out how Farooqi approaches this game- lots of backlash came his way which should ideally result in him feeling low but his mental character will be at work if he manages to keep the white noise out and grind it out there. He’d be eager to get Pakistan’s mainstay, Babar’s wicket again.
*PAKISTAN PROBABLE XI:*
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
Naseem Shah with the bowl, Naseem Shah with the bat. He is making it a habit now and his hunger to win games is on display whenever the right arm pacer steams in to bowl or in dire needs, walks out to bat. What works for Naseem is all due to his commitment and his eagerness to improve with the bat. We saw his heroics vs Afgh at the Asia cup and now in the 2nd ODI, won’t be long before he gets renowned as a proper allrounder specially with the effort the boy is showing with the willow by his side.
Imam and Babar have been getting the runs and the partnerships but have failed to finish games and not leave it to the lower middle order. This is one grey area in their otherwise stellar record in the format and they need to come up with a solution to resolve this. How they approach the game is sensible but to throw your wicket away after being set is a crime specially while chasing and this duo needs to escape this crime now in order to create a match winning chance for their national side.
*MY PREDICTIONS:*
*FOR AFGH:*
Highest run getter- Gurbaz/Shahidi
Highest wicket taker- Mujeeb Ur Rehman/Rashid Khan
*FOR PAK:*
Highest run getter- Babar Azam/Shadab Khan
Highest wicket taker- Shaheen Shah/Shadab Khan
*FOR THE GAME:*
Pakistan to cleepsweep