Afghanistan begin their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan on Thursday. Pakistan lost their first game by 12 runs against Sri Lanka while Afghanistan have not played an ODI since October last year.
Venue: Fatullah Osmani Stadium, Narayanganj, Bangladesh
Date: Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014
Start time: 2 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. GMT
Match Preview
After losing their opening match in this tournament the defending Champions Pakistan now will meet in the 3rd match of Asia Cup with new entery team Afghanistan. Pakistan cricket team could not chase 297 runs in their previous match against Sri Lankan team, only two batsmen of Pakistan cricket team could show their batting temperament in this match and could play remarkable innings.
Mr Consistence Misbah Ul Haq the captain of Pakistan team made 73 runs, he showed that he is the most reliable player of the team and continued his batting consistency. Young Umar Akmal also played some aggressive strike but in the zeal of his aggressiveness he thew his wicket on his 74 individual runs.
In the last over Pakistan team needed 13 runs but there was tough stuff for the tail endear of Pakistan team and was all out on 284 runs. Now Pakistan cricket team will have to work very hard to set their run chase problem the bowling of Pakistan cricket team always tough to play for the any team, now Pakistan team will have to win the match with reasonable margin against young Afghanistan team.
Afghanistan cricket team has full prepared to face the big giant of this tournament Pakistan cricket team in their opening match of Asia Cup. Afghanistan cricket team has played very well in the Qualifying matches of World Cup 2015, Afghanistan cricket team has qualified for the 2015 World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand.
Afghanistan cricket team is getting their debut in the Asia Cup now this will be very tough task for the players of Afghan team to face the best teams of the World in this tournament. The conditions in Bangladesh will be easy for batting and some players of Afghan team know the ups and downs of these conditions due to playing BPL tournament last year.
Six players of Afghan team has played from the different cricket Clubs of Dhaka these players will perform for their team if they get place in the final eleven. The captain of Afghanistan cricket team also has played from the oldest Culb of Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club he scored some good innings for this Club. Now the real exam of Afghanistan cricket team will be in the first match of tournament and they will try to win this match.
Squads
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Mohammad Talha
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (capt), Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Fazal Niazai, Hamid Hassan, Hamza Hotak, Karim Sadiq, Mirwais Ashraf, Mohammad Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran.
Players to watch
Bilawal Bhatti has played just eight ODIs, but he's already becoming one of the most exciting prospects in Pakistan cricket. He has struggled with the ball thus far, with an average of 59.00 and just eight wickets in the games he has played, but it's his lower-order hitting that's made him so impressive. Putting together an all-round performance surely can't be too far away.
Afghanistan haven't played too much cricket in the last few months, but in a recent T20 against Kenya, Noor Ali scored a fine 50 off 48. As a top-order bat, he will have to help those around him keep calm and set a foundation, even if it might seem impossible against Pakistan's spin wizardry.
