Prediction Pakistan vs Afghanistan: Asia Cup 2022
Asia Cup is going in full swing. The first phase has already over. The teams who qualified for Super 4 are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan (as we predicted in our last articles about Asia Cup 2022). In this stage, the teams winning 2 matches will go for the final match. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have won their matches against India and Afghanistan respectively. Let’s have look at their recent performances to make a prediction.
Afghanistan
The Afghan team emerged as a strong team in the group matches. They beat five-time title winners’ Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and qualified as first in Group B. The way they played in group matches in the three domains i.e. batting, bowling and fielding was amazing.
In the super 4 matches which they played against Sri Lanka, the bowlers ruined it. The batting was awesome. But bowlers could not do their part. And they lost it eventually.
In this match, Rahmanullah Gurbaz is dangerous for Pakistan. He is the top scorer in Afghanistan. He has scored 135 with 10 sixes and 8 fours. Hazratullah Zazai followed him with 73. Both of them are in good form.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman is doing good bowling for his steam. He got 7 wickets with an economy rate of 5.83. He is the best bowler Afghan team has. Rashid Khan is not looking that effective in this tournament.
Pakistan
In super 4, Pakistan has made a good start. They beat their traditional rival in a tooth-biting match and won it with 5 wickets and 1 ball reaming. With this, they took sweet revenge for defeat in the group match. Placed 2nd in the points table they have an opportunity to confirm their position in the final by defeating another neighbor of theirs i.e. Afghanistan.
Mohammad Rizwan is the most successful batsman of the Pakistan team. He is the top run-scorer for Pakistan with 192 runs including 4 sixes and 16 fours. Fakhar Zaman made 78 runs. Babar Azam is not getting his form in this tournament. The defensive mode may be the cause. The team has good very good finishers in them till num 7.
Mohammad Nawaz is the best bowler so far for the team. He got 7 wickets an economy rate of 6.52. Shadab and Naseem Shah are also performing well.
If lost, they will stay in the tournament but the chances of the Afghan team will disappear if they lost. Let’s hope for a good competition on Wednesday.
Probable playing 11
Pakistan
It may keep the same squad as it was vs India.
Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Khushdil, Iftikhar, Asif Ali, Shadab, Haris Rauf, Hasnain, Naseem
Afghanistan
Gurbaz, Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Farooqi
Pitch Report
We have seen that Dubai’s pitch for the 2nd match of India Vs Pakistan was not as spicy as the first one. It was neither grassy nor steeper. It was an easy track. As the match progressed, it gave even more opportunities for batters to score. The dew factor was also dominant.
We are expecting same type of pitch in Sharjah and a high score in this match as well. Both teams have power hitters. Moreover, the Sharjah pitch is more of a batting pitch than a bowling. So the teams winning the toss may go for batting first to give a huge target to the opponent.
Weather Report
The weather is clear and no signs of rain are found in the forecast.
Prediction
Afghanistan, no doubt emerged as a very good team in a short span of time. It has the potential to beat any team in the world right now. But in this match, Pakistan seems to be a stronger, balanced, mature and emotionally stable team. Though team’s and players’ performances matter yet it needs to have good control on nerves in a short format like T20 to win. Betjee.com analysts think that Pakistan can win this match with a close margin.
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