In another must-win game, India face a tough challenge from Mohammad Nabi’s Afghanistan. Not only they need a win to open their account, they need a big one to improve their net run rate (NRR) and bring down Afghanistan’s in the process. There are plenty threats from the Afghan side including explosive opener Hazratullah Zazai, skipper Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and others. However, there is one major threat in the form of leg-spinner Rashid Khan they need to be wary of and nullify in their clash at Sheikh Zayed Stadium especially when they need to go against the template of the tournament so far and bat first in order to boost their NRR.
It will be interesting to see how Nabi uses Rashid’s services. Will he hand him the ball at the halfway stage like he did against Afghanistan or bring him in early to trouble the already troubled Indian top order. The numbers are stacked in Rashid’s favour against the majority of Indian batters.
Top order
The batters he has troubled the most are Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. Rahul has been dismissed thrice by Rashid in 30 deliveries he has faced. He has scored just 18 runs at a strike rate of 60 against the maverick. On the other end, Rohit has been dismissed twice in 16 deliveries for 169 runs. These numbers will make Nabi rethink his strategy and give Rashid the ball in powerplay overs straightaway.
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli who has had his fair share of issues against spinners of late has scored just 21 runs from 24 balls and lost his wicket once.
Middle order
The middle order has not had a cakewalk against the 23-year-old. Out of the current batting lineup Rishabh Pant has scored most runs (77 off 68) against Rashid but he has been dismissed twice.
India’s designated finisher Hardik Pandya has lost his wicket twice and scored at a strike rate of 72.97 against the leggie. The other finisher Ravindra Jadeja is one of the batters who has not been dismissed by Rashid but he has not been able to score at a good rate with just 14 runs from 22 deliveries.
Even if Nabi takes a similar approach as the last game, the numbers indicate that India will have a hard time finishing well as they may lose a few wickets in death overs.
The X-factors
There are only two batters who have not been dominated by Rashid and have maintained decent strike rate. Suryakumar Yadav who was forced to sit out due to back spasm, has scored 32 runs from 28 deliveries at a strike rate of 114.28. On the other hand, Ishan Kishan has the highest strike rate of 125.49 against the spinner with 64 runs under his belt from 51 runs. The Indian analysts may find themselves scratching their heads if they consider these numbers to choose one of the batters for the Afghanistan clash. So far, both batters have played one game each but did not make a mark.
What awaits India
Rashid has taken seven wickets from three games so far at an economy rate of six runs per over. Irrespective of the coin toss, Rashid will be tough to get past for Indian batters, especially if he bowls in tandem with Mujeeb ur Rahman. With the ball skidding into the stumps, it will be interesting to see if Indian batters try to hit him out of the attack or just play out his overs.
