ICC Men’s CWC 2023: All eyes on England’s attacking batting versus Afghanistan’s mystery spin
The 13th match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be played between Afghanistan and defending champions England on October 15 at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Head-to-Head
England and Afghanistan have played two ODIs against each other between 2015 and 2019, of which England have won both. These two ODIs were played during the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. It will be the first time that England and Afghanistan will play an ODI against each other in India.
| Particulars | England | Afghanistan |
| ICC ODI Rankings | 5 | 9 |
| Performance in ODIs overall | 2 | 0 |
| At World Cups | 2 | 0 |
Performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 so far…
England and Afghanistan will play their third match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. While England have registered one win and one loss, Afghanistan have not yet been able to open their account in the points table. England lost to New Zealand by eight wickets at Ahmedabad and then made a comeback against Bangladesh as they beat them by 137 runs at Dharamsala. Afghanistan, on the other hand, have suffered defeats against Bangladesh (by 6 wickets) at Dharamsala and India (by 8 wickets) at Delhi.
England v Afghanistan: Squads, injury updates, playing conditions, weather, and players to watch out for
Squads
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq.
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
Injury updates
England’s star all-rounder Ben Stokes has not played the first two matches. He is nursing a sore hip. If he is deemed fit, he is likely to walk into the playing XI. On the other hand, Afghanistan do not have fitness concerns.
Playing conditions
Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will host the encounter between England and Afghanistan. It will be a day night match. While England will play their fifth ODI here, having won two and lost two, Afghanistan will play their second ODI here, having lost their first against India during this World Cup. The venue will host its third game of this tournament. The teams batting first and second have won one apiece. The previous two matches were high scoring ones. Another run feast could be on the cards.
Weather
The weather is expected to be warm. The maximum temperature attained during the day will be 35 degrees Celsius. The cloud cover will be 40% and there could be 1% chance of rain. The wind will blow from the west.
Players to watch out for
For England, Joe Root will be the key. The onus of the team’s batting will be on him. So far in his two outings, he has scored 159 runs at an average of 80 and strike rate of 103. Root is the highest run-getter for England in this World Cup. Just behind him is Dawid Malan, who is an aggressive opening batter of England. The left-handed batter has scored 154 runs in his two matches at an average of 77 and strike rate of 118. Among the bowlers, left-arm tall fast bowler Reece Topley will grab the attention. He picked four wickets in his last match against Bangladesh having missed out on playing against New Zealand in the first encounter.
For Afghanistan, Rashid Khan will be crucial. With his magical spell of bowling he can rattle any opposition. However, in his two outings so far in this World Cup he has managed to pick up just the two wickets. Among the batters, the captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has announced himself on the big stage. He has scored 98 runs in two matches and is the highest run getter for his side in this tournament so far.
Match details
Date: October 15, 2023
Time: 2:00 PM IST
Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Live streaming: Star Sports, Hotstar
All the statistics are sourced from ESPN Cricinfo