We have an all-Asian clash between two teams who are currently beaten in the Super 12 stage when Afghanistan take on Pakistan in Dubai in the second match of the two T20 World Cup 2021 fixtures on Friday.
Pakistan head into the contest on top of Group 2 and will all but be in the semi-finals with a win. Afghanistan have only played once but they were emphatic winners of it and a win here would send them to the fringes of a knockout spot.
Afghanistan
It is hard to know exactly what to make of Afghanistan because they only played a pretty ordinary Scotland side in their opening match, but sometimes it isn’t who you play it is how you deal with the team you play and Afghanistan couldn’t have beaten the Scots any more emphatically than they did. They flew out of the traps with the bat and put up the biggest score in the tournament to date with their entire top four delivering the goods.
The Afghans didn’t need a score that big though because their mystery spin pair of Mujeeb and Rashid Khan were way too much for the minnows and in the end Afghanistan ended up winning by the sort of margin that will ensure their net run rate is very much on their side for the remainder of the Super 12 phase. They might well need to play as well again here if not slightly better but it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if they have that in them.
Pakistan
I think it is fair to say that Pakistan have been one of the teams of the tournament so far. They have won their two matches to date and what has been good about those victories is that they have seen off the two leading challengers to them in the group and now they finish off their Super 12 campaign against the three lesser lights. Two wins from those three matches definitely gets them into the semi-final but one big one might be enough as well.
Pakistan have been quite brilliant with the ball so far with their two main seamers producing a spell each which has torn through the opposition batting unit. The spinners have kept things quiet in the middle of the innings when some teams have been getting away from their opponents so that is good too. Another thing that has been useful for Pakistan across the opening two matches has been that most of their top six have had time at the crease and scored some runs. That could be vital moving forward.
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Key Men
Afghanistan need to do something to make Pakistan nervous in this match so it might be that the new ball spell of Mujeeb ur Rahman is what does that. If he can eek out a couple of wickets and make Pakistan think a bit it would certainly hep their chances.
There probably isn’t a player in better form with the bat right now than Mohammad Rizwan and if he can get Pakistan off to another fine start and get them ahead of the game they might be in a position from where they cruise home.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount I like in this match because I expect Pakistan to win but I’m wary of the comedown after two huge performances. The other reason why I find it hard to get involved in this one is because the toss has been such a determining factor both in this tournament but especially on this ground. I’d also like to know just how competitive Afghanistan might or might not be and we’ll only really find that out in this match.
There is a bet I can’t ignore though and that is the 12/1 price of Najibullah Zadran who is as clean a hitter as you’ll find in this tournament and who smoked 59 from just 34 balls in his first game against Scotland. He came in at four in that match so immediately the 12/1 is a big price here but when you consider the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Imad Wasim and Hasan Ali are around to keep the openers quiet it might not matter if Najibullah drops down a place or two in the batting. This is a man who has more than 1100 runs in T20Is and they come at nearly 150 in terms of strike rate. The price is too big so I’ll have a small play.
Tips
Back N.Zadran Top Afghanistan Batter for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with BetVictor
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