Afghanistan is going up against the mighty West Indies team in their second and last warm up match here on Monday ahead of the ICC World Twenty 20 beginning on September 18. It is the first time that the Afghan team lead by Nowroz Mangal will face the strong West Indies team in a T20 match with the likes of Chris Gayle, Pollard and mystery spinner Sunil Narine who bamboozled everyone during the Indian premier league and won the man of the series.
The West Indies team was defeated heavily by Sri Lanka in their first warm up match by 9 wickets and more than 4 over’s remaining by Sri Lanka and will be looking to find form against a much weaker Afghan team who nevertheless thrashed their opponent in their first warm up match – Sri Lanka A by 51 runs.
Afghan fans will be anxiously awaiting the ICC t20 warm up match against a strong WI team as there are a few questions to be answered. The biggest question will be whether the Afghan team will show enough to keep the Afghan fans believing that their team has what it takes to defeat the heavy guns of international cricket. Performing well against the likes of Narine, Gayle, Pollard, Bravo and so many others will be a proud moment for Afghanistan and will indicate that this team has potential to beat England and India although it’s just a warm up match.
Another question is the form of Afghanistan skipper Nowroz Mangal who has been out of touch for so long that the most enthusiastic afghan cricket fans will fail to remember when he last performed with the bat. The form of a skipper is very important for a cricket team to be successful so the Afghan fans will be hoping that the skipper finds the music sooner rather than later. Nevertheless Mangal as skipper is really important as the Afghan batting consultant Umesh Patwal stated when he was asked about his form by sports.af ”He is the best captain I have seen by far. There are no cricketers who have not gone through the bad patches & in his case it’s been longer but his skill as a captain is as valuable as 50 runs scored by any other batsmen”.
Last but not least Afghan fans are seeking to know news about Hamid Hassan – Will he be ready for India and England and is he ready for West Indies? Difficult to tell but we will know more tomorrow after the match against WI. If Hamid Bowls he will most likely be in the starting 11 against India but if he misses again as he missed the match against Sri Lanka A then I am afraid we won’t see him in T20 World cup beginning on September 18.
Key battles:
Sunil Narine vs Afghan Batsmen.
Sunil Narine is the new mystery spinner of world cricket who took everyone by surprise and grabbed the man of the series award in IPL and helped his team Kolkata Knight Ridders win the IPL. Sunil Narine was also named the Emerging Player of the Year for 2012 at the ICC Awards ceremony in Colombo. Narine is in great form and will look to create a stir at the World Cup. He will also benefit by the spin friendly pitches of Sri Lanka. Afghan batsmen will be aiming to prove a point at the T20 World Cup as the batting has proved fragile now and then for Afghanistan. It will be a good confidence boost for Afghan players if they perform against a world class spinner.
Teams:
Afghanistan:
Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbodin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Izatullah Dawlatzai, Javed Ahmadi, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad†, Najibullah Zadran, M Nasim Baras, Nawroz Mangal*, Samiullah Shenwari, Shafiqullah, Shapoor Zadran
West Indies:
S Badree, DJ Bravo, DM Bravo, J Charles, FH Edwards, CH Gayle, SP Narine, KA Pollard, D Ramdin†, R Rampaul, AD Russell, DJG Sammy*, MN Samuels, LMP Simmons, DR Smith
Match scheduled to begin at 14:00 local time (08:30 GMT) 10:30 CET and 12:00 Kabul time.
