Team news, likely XIs, form guide, players to watch, odds, TV and streaming information, weather forecast, umpire appointments and everything else you need to know
India take on Afghanistan in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
The game is scheduled for 6pm local time (2pm BST) on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.
The game will be held at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium: Ground guide
India are in dire straits heading into their third match of the T20 World Cup. The pre-tournament favourites have lost their first two matches - a 10-wicket defeat against Pakistan and an eight-wicket defeat against New Zealand - and head into their clash with Afghanistan knowing only a win can keep their World Cup dream alive.
Afghanistan, by contrast, have won two of their three opening matches, defeating Scotland (130 runs) and Namibia (62 runs) either side of an agonising five-wicket defeat against Pakistan. Mohammad Nabi's side are sitting pretty in second place and have a net run rate of +3.097, which stands them in good stead heading into the business end of the Super 12s.
India and Afghanistan have met just twice in T20Is, with India winning both encounters. However, their most recent meeting was back in September 2012.
In spite of their poor form, Dafabet have installed India as the favourites for this match, offering odds of 2 for 9. Afghanistan are available at 16/5.
Virat Kohli is the favourite to top-score for India, with odds of 5/2. Hazratullah Zazai is at 3/1 to top-score for Afghanistan.
KL Rahul was India's form batter heading into the T20 World Cup. The opener, who is ranked 10th on the men's T20 Player Index, scored a huge 626 runs in the Indian Premier League and had five 30-plus knocks, including three half-centuries, in eight innings prior to the tournament. However, in his two Super 12 outings, he has scored just 21 runs. Fortunately, Rahul has a strong strike rate against spin (Afghanistan's star quality), scoring at 132.23, and averages 40.50 - how India would love an innings like this on Wednesday.
For Afghanistan, captain Mohammad Nabi is the crucial player. The allrounder has been expensive with the ball, conceding 9.14 runs per over, but has chipped in nicely with the bat, scoring 78 runs at a strike rate of 147.16 in his past three matches. And, without the experienced head of Asghar Afghan to support him in the middle order, the pressure on Nabi to show up with the bat is bigger than ever.
Afghanistan have lost the services of former captain Asghar Afghan, who retired after their victory against Namibia. Sharafuddin Ashraf or Usman Ghani are the most likely candidates to replace him. Mujeeb Ur Rahman missed the Namibia match through injury, with Hamid Hassan filling in.
Suryakumar Yadav missed India's defeat to New Zealand with back spasms and was replaced by Ishan Kishan. Shardul Thakur replaced the out of form Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the bowling attack but didn't cover himself in glory, taking 1 for 17 from 1.3 overs. Kumar may return.
The following umpires and match referees have been named by the ICC to officiate in the T20 World Cup 2021:
Referees: David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Javagal Srinath
Umpires: Chris Brown, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nitin Menon, Ahsan Raza, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Rod Tucker, Joel Wilson, Paul Wilson
The following officials have been allocated to this fixture:
On-field umpires: Kettleborough, Reiffel
TV umpire: Dar
Fourth umpire: Rusere
Referee: Boon
Full T20 World Cup officials appointments: Click here
Temperatures will hover around 30 degrees Celsius at the start of play before cooling slightly as the match goes on.
Follow the Met Office forecast here.
Yes, though Covid protocols including the wearing of face masks will be in place.
Click here to visit the ICC's ticketing site.
India are a wounded side after suffering two defeats and Afghanistan will likely smell blood. Afghanistan win.
T20 WORLD CUP TEAM GUIDES
Sky Sports Cricket (Sky 404, Talk Talk 404, BT TV 423, Virgin 504) will broadcast the series in the United Kingdom, with the content available online via its streaming platform Sky Go.
BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra will have live ball-by-ball radio commentary of all tournament matches, accessible through the BBC Sport website, BBC Sounds or DAB radio.
The Star Sports network is showing the tournament in India. Matches can be streamed via Disney+ Hotstar
Other broadcasters by territory:
Australia - Fox Sports, Channel 9, Kayo Sports
New Zealand – Sky Sport New Zealand
Pakistan - PTV Sports, Ten Sports
Bangladesh - Ghazi Tv (GTV)
Sri Lanka – SLRC (Channel Eye)
South Africa – SuperSport
Caribbean – ESPN
Middle East and North Africa – eLife TV, StarzPlay, Switch TV
USA – ESPN+
Singapore - Star Cricket, Star Hub and Singtel
Malaysia - Fox International Channels
Hong Kong - Star Cricket
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Shahzad, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan (retired, replaced by Sharafuddin Ashraf), Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveen ul Haq
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami
Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Hamid Hassan
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
T20 World Cup Hub: News, features, stats, live scores
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