Asia Cup 2022: IND vs AFG Head To Head Records, Super Four, Match 5 (A1 vs B2)

Asia Cup 2022: IND vs AFG Head To Head Records, Super Four, Match 5 (A1 vs B2). India will play against Afghanistan on 8th September 2022, 19:30 IST at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.

India lost its first Super 4 match against Pakistan while Afghanistan lost to Sri Lanka in the first Super 4 match. Afghanistan will play against Pakistan on 7th September 2022. Sri Lanka beat India by six wickets as they chase down a target of 174 with one ball to spare.

The loss diminished India’s chances of reaching the Asia Cup 2022 final and defending its crown. The two-time defending champion now faces a situation where its qualification for the final depends on other results – Pakistan’s to be precise.

India’s road to the final now depends on Pakistan’s results in its remaining Super 4 matches against Afghanistan (Wednesday) and Sri Lanka (Friday). India will require Pakistan to lose both matches. India will also need to beat Afghanistan by a big margin on Thursday.

Sri Lanka pulled off a major upset, beating Afghanistan by 4 wickets in the Super 4 opener. With that, Dasun Shanaka-led Sri Lanka also avenged their humiliating loss in the Asia Cup 2022 opener. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (84) helped Afghanistan post 175/5 but impactful innings from Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa helped them chase the target with 5 balls to spare.

Kusal Mendis smashed 19-ball 36 to set the tone of the match. After the 62-run opening stand, Sri Lanka never had a great partnership but there were small impactful performances throughout. Pathum Nissanka (35 off 28), Danushka Gunathilaka (33 off 20) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (31 off 14) besides Wanindu Hasaranga (16 off 9) all contributed well.

With a highest individual score of just 36, Sri Lanka still got over the line comfortably thanks to cameos right through. The final nail in the coffin was Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 14-ball 31. With 49 needed off the last fiver overs, Bhanuka Rajapaksa went 4, 4, 6 against Naveen ul Haq and brought the equation down. He stayed put till just two were needed and all but ensured that Sri Lanka got over the line.

Asia Cup 2022: Brief Scores: Afghanistan: 175 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 84, Ibrahim Zadran 40; Dilshan Madushanka 2/37). lost to Sri Lanka: 179 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Kusal Mendis 36, Pathum Nissanka 35, Danushka Gunathilaka 33; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/30, Naveen-ul-Haq 2/40).

Mohammad Nawaz stunned India with the bat after helping restrict them with the ball after a rampant start to give Pakistan a thrilling win in their Super 4 match against India. A week after India chased successfully in a thrilling group-stage finish, Pakistan returned the favour, asking India to bat and getting home with just one ball to spare.

Mohammad Rizwan anchored the chase with 71 off 51, but it was Mohammad Nawaz who provided the desperately needed impetus. Promoted to No. 4, he smashed 42 off 20 balls to put Pakistan back on track as India’s Virat Kohli’s 44 balls 60 went in vain.

Asia Cup 2022: Pakistan 182 for 5 (Rizwan 71, Nawaz 42) beat India 181 for 7 (Kohli 60, Rahul 28, Rohit 28, Shadab 2-31) by five wickets

Winning the toss might be a considerable advantage but Sri Lanka was not short of brilliance. Dilshan Madushanka led them with the ball, taking 3 for 24, and was supported by Chamika Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana. Rohit Sharma rose above the difficult conditions to score 72 off 41.

In the chase, openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka looked like winning it easily but Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin took four wickets for 13 runs to make it 64 of 35. However, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and captain Dasun Shanaka saw them home in dramatic fashion.

Sri Lanka 174 for 4 (Mendis 57, Nissanka 52, Chahal 3-34) beat India 173 for 8 (Rohit 72, Madushanka 3-24) by six wickets

One bad result is all it takes to leave a team staring at possible elimination from the Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan faced – and overcome – that challenge after losing to India in the group stages. And now it’s India who is in a precarious position after losing to Pakistan in the Super 4 round.

For India, Ravindra Jadeja has sustained a right knee injury and is ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022. Axar Patel has been added to the squad as his replacement. It’s interesting to see the Indian team’s combination against Afghanistan.

The likes of Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal were too expensive in the Super 4 match against Pakistan. Hardik Pandya, the MOM in the Asia Cup 2022 group league match against Pakistan also was dismissed without scoring in the Super 4 clash against the same opponents.

India played Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Hooda in place of ill Avesh Khan and injured Ravindra Jadeja against Pakistan. Avesh Khan has also been ruled out and Deepak Chahar replaced him. Axar Patel may get a chance as he is yet to play a game.

Also in the aftermath of Rishabh Pant going for a needless reverse sweep against Pakistan when India needed one of their middle-order batters to stay put, it’s worth asking if he still merits a chance ahead of Dinesh Karthik who at least has current form—as designated slog overs specialist—going for him.

Afghanistan would depend a lot on opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz who is the 3rd highest run-getter in Asia Cup 2022 with 135 runs in 3 games averaging 45. He top-scored with 84 against Sri Lanka in Afghanistan’s 1st Super 4 game but it went in vain.

Najibullah Zadran, on the other hand, has the best strike rate of 213.79 in Asia Cup 2022 but would like to score more runs. He may be promoted atop the batting order. Skipper all-rounder Mohammad Nabi is out of form with the bat which is a concern for Afghanistan.

On the other hand, off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman is the joint highest wicket-taker with 7 scalps averaging a mere 10. Rashid Khan, the world’s top-ranked leg spinner hasn’t picked many wickets-4 according to his liking and would like to add more to his tally against Pakistan and India. Afghanistan is likely to go unchanged against Pakistan and India.

Asia Cup 2022: Afghanistan (Probable Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Samiullah Shinwari, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Asia Cup 2022: India (Probable Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Deepak Hooda, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh

Asia Cup 2022: IND vs AFG Head To Head Records, Super Four, Match 5 (A1 vs B2)

India and Afghanistan have met each other three times with India winning each time. All the matches came in the T20I World Cups (2010, 2012, and 2021). India successfully chased 116 in the 2010 T20I World Cup. In the 2012 T20I World Cup, India bowled out Afghanistan for 136 after scoring 159/5. In the 2021 T20I World Cup, India scored a mammoth 210/2 and restricted Afghanistan to 144/7.

Rohit Sharma has scored the most runs-75 and is followed by KL Rahul-69. The duo is followed by Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi-66 and Suresh Raina-56. Rohit Sharma has the highest individual score of 74. Ravichandran Ashwin has taken the most scalps-4.