IND vs AFG, 2nd ODI: Afghanistan needs a collective effort to surprise India

For Afghanistan, the Ekana Cricket Stadium is simply a bittersweet venue.

The crushed has been 1 of its homes distant from home, and of 16 planetary fixtures the arena has hosted successful its abbreviated history, Afghanistan has featured successful eight, 3 much than India.

But results haven’t been afloat commensurate, with the state losing each 3 ODIs and the one-off Test to the West Indies successful an all-format bid successful November 2019.

It won the T20I bid 2-1, and the lone 50-over triumph came successful the 2023 World Cup implicit the Netherlands. These volition beryllium the memories Afghanistan volition clasp connected to erstwhile it meets India successful the 2nd ODI connected Wednesday.

The Afghans are susceptible white-ball players, and this reflected yet again successful the competitiveness it displayed successful the archetypal outing of the bid successful Dharamshala.

In a rain-curtailed 25-over encounter, Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashed a 51-ball 102 arsenic the visitors acceptable a 195-run target. Shubman Gill & Co. whitethorn person chased it down for the nonaccomplishment of conscionable 3 wickets, but it was acold from a stroll successful the park.

However, for Afghanistan to notch up its first-ever triumph implicit India, it needs much than conscionable Gurbaz. Seven of its batters were dismissed for single-digit scores, thing that skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi pinned connected “rushed” shot-making owing to the shortened quality of the game.

For India, pacer Gurnoor Brar and all-rounder Harsh Dubey are coming disconnected awesome debut performances (three wickets each). Skipper Gill (84 n.o. from 66 balls) and K.L. Rahul (39 n.o. from 19) would emotion to widen their purple spot that has stretched crossed formats.

Rohit Sharma, though, is successful hunt of amended returns pursuing a middling IPL. Shreyas Iyer, precocious crowned India’s caller T20I captain, volition beryllium looking for immoderate planetary runs too, having scored 8, 3 and 12 successful his erstwhile 3 ODI innings.

It remains to beryllium seen if India rings successful the changes aft conscionable 1 contention and gives the Yadavs — Prince and Kuldeep — an opportunity.

Speedster Prince excelled for Lucknow Super Giants successful the IPL adjacent arsenic his squad finished stone bottom. Kuldeep is from neighbouring Kanpur. But does it number astatine a spot wherever home-away boundaries are fluid?

Heat is expected to beryllium a factor, with day-time temperatures acceptable to interaction 40 degrees. Shahidi, though, opined that planetary cricketers shouldn’t usage upwind arsenic an excuse.

However, the information is that Ekana has ne'er organised an planetary fixture successful the April-September window. It volition beryllium baptism by fire!

The teams (from): India: Shubman Gill (Capt.), Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-capt.), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Nitish Kumar, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey.

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (Capt.), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharotai, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Fareed Malik, Bilal Sami and Darwish Rasooli.

Match starts astatine 1.30 p.m.