IND vs AFG 5th Super Four Match Prediction

IND vs AFG Team Previews

India

India has played some good cricket but it seems to have fallen short under pressure. This is particularly true for its bowling. Two times now, under pressure, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has failed to deliver at the death. Yuzvendra Chahal has had one of the worst performances we have seen from him in a long time and Arshdeep lacks sting with the new ball. 

Deepak Chahar has been drafted into the squad and he should play this next match. We think he will replace Bhuvenshwar Kumar but that remains to be seen. We could also see Axar Patel and Dinesh Karthik make a comeback into the lineup in place of Pant and one of the spinners. 

India's batting has been full of intent and quite good. We don't think any of the blame for the defeats can go to the batters. We expect to see them continue to try and attack the Afghan bowlers from the start. 

Afghanistan

Afghanistan has pushed all of the teams it has played close. It beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh during the group stage and then came within inches of beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the Super Four. There is no reason it cannot beat India as well. 

The problem for Afghanistan has been its batting lineup. There is a lot of dependence on Rahmanullah Gurbaz. If he gets out early, the rest of the batting lineup struggles. Senior players like Mohammad Nabi and Karim  Janat have not had any impact with the bat. Hazratullah Zazai also seems to be in the middle of a massive rut at the moment. 

We question whether Afghanistan is going to be able to get the better of the Indian team's weak bowling attack. 

Afghanistan's bowling, though, is going to test India. There is no doubt about that. Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, and Mohammad Nabi have been brilliant all throughout. Even Fazalhaq Farooqi has been able to pick up early wickets and would fancy himself against an Indian top-3 that has struggled against left-arm pace. 

Afghanistan is certainly not without a chance to win here.