England Look to Build Success Against Afghanistan

New Delhi: Batters areexpected to play a major role inEngland’s clash againstAfghanistan at the ICC Men’sCricket World Cup at ArunJaitley Stadium here on Sunday.In many ways, the defending
World Cup champions finallyarrived at the tournament in theirsecond game in Dharamsala. Aftera nine-wicket loss in Ahmedabadagainst New Zealand, theirplayers fired in all departments
against Bangladesh as Englandmanaged a 137-run win. The JosButtler-led side would hope tocontinue a similar run in Delhi.The Arun Jaitley wicket hasproved to be good for battingthus far. And England batters,
reputed for their aggressiveapproach, can make the most ofthe likely suitable conditionswhen at the crease. TheAfghanistan side would love toget their act together in the WorldCup. They’ve impressed in
phases but haven’t been able toclick as a unit. They would liketheir senior players, Rashid Khanand Mohammad Nabi to give abetter account of themselves inthe upcoming matches, an ICC
report said. Though they haven’twon a single ODI since July,Afghanistan came close tocausing a major upset against SriLanka in the Asia Cup at the backof a belligerent 65 from 32 balls
by Mohammad Nabi. Nabi is oneof the veterans of the Afghanistansetup, who continues tocontribute in all departments onand off the field. He might havemissed out in the first two gamesof the tournament, but Englandwould ignore Nabi at their ownrisk. The hard-hitting lowerorderbatter is also a cannycustomer with the ball. AndAfghanistan would love for Nabito be at his very best in bothdepartments. After a lacklustreshowing with the ball inAhmedabad, England were on topof their game in Dharamsala. Abig factor was Reece Topley’s 4/43 which included the big wicketsof Shakib Al Hasan, NajmulHossain Shanto and MushfiqurRahim. England would like tocomplement their all-outattacking approach with thewillow with a newball operatorwho can assure them of earlybreakthroughs going ahead in thetournament. Topley did well inDharamsala, and he can reassureEngland greatly if he does well inDelhi too.Squads Afghanistan:Hashmatullah Shahidi (c),Rahmanullah Gurbaz, IbrahimZadran, Riaz Hassan, RahmatShah, Najibullah Zadran,Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil,Azmatullah Omarzai, RashidKhan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, NoorAhmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, AbdulRahman, Naveen ul Haq.England: Jos Buttler (c),
Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson,Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran,Liam Livingstone, DawidMalan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root,Harry Brook, Ben Stokes,Reece Topley, David Willey,Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.

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