Touted to be one of England’s finest batsmen this edition of the World Cup, Jonny Bairstow would have been left disheartened with his 12-run knock against Australia. Sent back to the pavilion for just 12 by Jason Behrendorff, Bairstow was left flummoxed throughout his stay at the crease.
England and Bairstow will both be wishing it was a one-off innings for him. He’s their mainstay at the top of the order, someone they are banking heavily on to construct the successful foundation of a dependable platform from where the rest of the batsmen can take off from.
With 2-37 against Pakistan, Afghanistan will be turning to by far their best pacer to bludgeon Bairstow come Monday. The pitch promises signs of movement in the early part and if he can keep his line and length right on the money, Afghanistan just might send back Bairstow cheaply.
With Jofra Archer expected to be rested owing to an injury he sustained against Australia, the onus will be on Liam Plunkett to make the inroads for the home side. He picked up 4 wickets against Australia but they came at a cost of 69 runs in 9 overs, something that is way too expensive for a frontline bowler.
Pitch report & Weather forecast
Weather Report : Weather will be moderate rain at times with daytime temperature reaching 19 °c. Night time temperature are expected to be 10 °c.It will be mostly dry with little or no precipitation. It will be mostly dry with little or no precipitationand cloud covering 68% of the sky, the humidity will be around 68%.
Pitch Report : Despite it being a fine surface for batsmen, the rainy conditions prevalent in the early part of the encounter will cause problem to batsmen. As was visible when India batted first against New Zealand on this stadium, the pacers will enjoy bowling under the cloud conditions with the sun refusing to come out till noon. It’s going to be a tract that rewards intelligent cricketing shots, allowing batsmen to open their runs and find the boundary at will once settled into his groove.
Record of chasing teams: Won – 3, Lost – 2
Afghanistan 2019 World Cup Squad
Gulbadin Naib (c), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan and Mujeeb ur Rahman.
England 2019 World Cup Squad
Eoin Morgan (c), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, James Vince, Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Dawson, Tom Curran, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Joe Root
Best World Cup 2019 Fantasy Team for League11
Suggested Playing X1 No. 1 for League11
keeper – M SHAHZAD
Batsman – NA ZARDAN, R SHAH, JJ ROY, JE ROOT(C)
Allrounder –M NABI, MOEN ALI, BA STOKES(VC)
Bowler – RASHID KHAN, CR WOAKES, JC ARCHER
Suggested Playing X1 No. 1 for League11
keeper – J BAIRSTOW
Batsman – R SHAH, H ZAZAI, N ZARDAN, JE ROOT, JJ ROY(C)
Allrounder – M NABI(VC), BA STOKES
Bowler – RASHID KHAN, CR WOAKES, JC ARCHER
AFGHANISTAN vs ENGLAND 2019 World Cup Match Details
24th match, ICC Cricket World Cup at Manchester
18 June 2019, 3:00 PM IST
TV Channels – Sky Sports, Fox Sports, Star Sports, Ten Cricket, Super Sports, ESPN Caribbean, BTV, GTV, ATN Cricket Plus, Willow TV
Live Sreaming – Hotstar, Sky Go, Now TV, Kayo, SonyLiv
