World Cup 2023: Pakistan's batting unit to draw swords against Afghan spin challenge

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Pakistan are set to play against Afghanistan in match no. 22 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Monday and they will be keen to break out of the losing momentum after suffering two consecutive defeats against India and Australia. The team came into the tournament with a lot of expectations but they failed to step up to the occasion so far.

Pakistan skipper and star batter Babar Azam has misfired with the bat in the tournament so far and his only significant knock was against India where he scored a half-century. Mohammed Rizwan has done most of the work for the batting unit being the top run-scorer of the tournament with 294 but he has lacked support from the other end. Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed haven't played their part in the middle order.

Pacer Shaheen Afridi picked up a five-for in the last game but pacers Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali haven't been able to cause trouble for the opposition batters. Further, the spinners have failed to take wickets or restrict the flow of runs for the team. The team will need to register a victory in the upcoming match otherwise a defeat will hamper their chances to make it into the semi-final.

Coming into the fixture, the spin unit will be Afghanistan's big strength which comprises Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The Indian pitches also assist spinners and the performance of the trio is likely to determine Afghanistan's success in the match. However, their batting unit needs to fire as no one has been consistently impressive except for Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the tournament. Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai and Hashmathullah Shahidi have shown flashes of brilliance but they need to add some consistency to it.

Pakistan have a 7-0 edge over Afghanistan in the fifty over format and the latter will need to fight tooth and nail to topple the Men in Green at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

Afghanistan Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman and Naveen ul Haq.

Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim.