Afghanistan is gearing up for their next battle against Kiwis in Melbourne after being outplayed by England at Perth. The conditions are tough & alien. But guys like Rashid, Mujeeb, Nabi & Qais have ample experiences of playing in Australia, courtesy to leagues like Big Bash. The bowling is quite sorted but most of the top order batters are really inexperienced. Facing teams like England, New Zealand & Australia on such hard & bouncy surfaces is definitely going to be an outrageous task for most. Kiwis must be quite charged up after defeating the hosts in their opening game of this World Cup.
Ibrahim looks in supreme touch, Usman’s gutsy effort impresses
Its overwhelming to see Ibrahim quickly developing into a dependable top order batter. The way he is showing his class to the cricketing world is simply commendable. It wasn’t expected from Usman to come off good against Pakistan in the warmup fixture & then subsequently in the tournament opener versus England. Ghani isn’t a technique savvy batter but he always tries to gut it out for the team. Najib has been in off color since the time he has landed down under which is a worrisome sign. The whole burden of middle order has been over the shoulders of Nabi who I feel has to follow a cautious approach for the team.
Posting a competitive target against Kiwis is essential
Omarzai I guess is lacking confidence in both departments. He has the potential to deliver but has always been an enigma since the time he has debuted for the national team. We can not quite rely on the batting abilities of Rashid, Mujeeb, Farooqi & either of Farid or Naveen whoever plays in the tail. The top seven batters have to make sure that we post a descent enough total on the board. Anything over 140 against formidable sides like New Zealand & Australia will be a competitive target although crossing 160 would be ideally icing on the cake.
Openers must provide steady starts, Hazrat must come good
In the last few series, Hazratullah has been a disappointment. His weakness on the off side & difficulty in reading slower balls have been nicely exploited by the opposition teams. Probably the think tank have to look beyond him if he fails to deliver in the entire world cup. Gurbaz is an extraordinary natural talent but has to calm down his nerves. He started off well against England but couldn’t save himself from an unplayable quick delivery from Mark Wood.
Rotating the fifth bowling option is a challenge
Farooqi is the spearhead of pace attack & have to take more responsibility to close the bowling power play in Afghanistan’s favor. From the look of things, it seems that he will bowl three overs from one end keeping the options of bowling Mujeeb & Omarzai open from the other end. The weak link is our fifth bowling option. Both Omarzai & Farid are quite high on economy although the later have shown a knack of providing important breakthroughs whenever the team needed in recent encounters. Naveen & Qais are currently benched and will only be used if Omarzai & Farid prove to be disasters.