T20 WC 2024: Afghanistan out to snap Australia's winning streak
Afghanistan and Australia will lock horns in the Super 8 Match 48 of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. While the Aussies are unbeaten in the tournament and can virtually seal a semi-final berth with a win in this game, Afghanistan will stand in a must-win clash as they lost their opening Super 8 game against India. Here is the match preview.
Pitch report and other details
The Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown will host this contest on June 23. The slow surface is likely to challenge batters yet again as the average first innings score here reads 121 (T20Is). Teams batting first have won all three games here in the ongoing event. One can watch the match live on the Star Sports Network and stream it on Disney+Hotstar (6:00am IST).
Can Afghanistan bounce back?
The Afghan team is coming of two successive defeats as they struggled across all departments against India and West Indies. Meanwhile, the Aussies have had an arguably perfect campaign as many of their players have stood up. Notably, these two teams have met just once in T20Is, in the 2022 T20 WC. Australia narrowly won that game by four runs.
A look at the probable XIs
Australia (Probable XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood. Afghanistan (Probable XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Here are the key performers
With 15 scalps, Fazalhaq Farooqi is the leading wicket-taker of the ongoing event (ER: 6.16). Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the leading run-getter for Afghanistan. He has aggregated 178 runs at a strike rate of 149.58. David Warner owns 169 runs in the ongoing tourney (50s: 2). His strike rate reads a stunning 148.24. Adam Zampa Zampa has 11 wickets in this T20 WC (ER: 5.90).
