Confident Scotland enter uncharted territory against Afghanistan

MATCH CENTRE

Afghanistan are used to coming into World Cup matches as the underdogs. But having qualified directly for the Super 12 stage by virtue of their well-earned ranking and with world-class T20I players aplenty, they take on Scotland with the slightly unfamiliar tag of favourites. Scotland, who beat Bangladesh in their opener, are instead the outsiders shaking up higher-ranked teams.

Scotland have never won a T20 international against Afghanistan in six attempts, but they may fancy their chances this time. They come into the match as table-toppers in their First Round Group, without a loss to their name so far. Playing their first ever match at this stage of the tournament, they are high on confidence, and have enjoyed more match time than their opponents.

They also have a group of batters adept at sweeping, which will be handy against Afghanistan.

They have their work cut out for them though, with Afghanistan possessing several bowling threats.

"Everyone understands the attack that Afghanistan have got with three world-class spinners in there," said Scotland's Calum MacLeod. "The biggest thing is you have to try and put the pressure back on them. Like all the top-class teams that you play against, if you let the bowlers just bowl at you, their skills will be too good for you over a period, so I think you have to find a method of putting the pressure back on them, whether that be with sweeping or coming down the wicket, whatever your method is about it. You've got to stick to it and be pretty disciplined."

The dew factor, which has affected teams bowling second at Sharjah, could be a factor on Monday. While the surface has been slow and low in recent times, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh played out a high-scoring afternoon game on Sunday.

Fixture details

• Match: Afghanistan v Scotland
• Time: 18:00 25 October 2021
• Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium

**Mohammad Nabi:**Nabi was at the helm for several of Afghanistan's biggest successes, climbing up the ranks of Associate cricket before taking a step back from captaincy duties. Now, he has again been entrusted with the role under difficult circumstances. Taking charge just before the tournament, his challenge will be to ensure a rocky and somewhat underwhelming preparation doesn't affect the squad. As a player, too, he is key, leading the ICC T20I All-rounder Rankings. He had fantastic figures of 3/2 in the warm-up game against the West Indies, and top-scored against South Africa.

George Munsey: Scotland's left-handed opening batter hasn't crossed 30 in the tournament, but remains a constant threat. With his ability to clear the ropes consistently and prowess with the switch hit, he continues to play an important role in the Powerplay overs. How he takes on the Afghanistan spinners could set the tone for the innings.

Scotlandcome in with a well-settled and confident side. In each game they have had different players standing up to be counted. The biggest change for them will be to adjust to the surfaces of Sharjah, since they have played all their games in Oman so far.

Possible Scotland XI: George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Safyaan Sharif, Brad Wheal

Afghanistanhaven't had much preparation in the lead up to the tournament. However, they were emphatic in their warm-up against West Indies, when they posted 189/5 before keeping the Windies to 133/5. Their challenge will be consistency: Against West Indies their openers made half-centuries; against South Africa they were both dismissed for ducks. It will also be interesting to see which pacers they go with, considering many of those in the side haven't played in the XI in a while.

Possible Afghanistan XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Naveen ul Haq

Captaincy Pick - Rashid Khan

Do not look beyond Rashid Khan as the top captaincy choice for your fantasy team. Afghanistan's leg-spinner is the most clear-headed T20 bowler in the world across leagues and has a phenomenal bowling strike rate of 12.1 in 51 T20I innings.

In the United Arab Emirates, Khan has taken 24 wickets at an economy rate of 5.57 in 14 innings. The 23-year-old is also a handy lower-order batsman who can hit the ball long.

Must-have - Josh Davey
Scotland's right-arm pacer is in impressive form, having bagged eight wickets in three matches so far in the T20 World Cup. Apart from his present form, he also has a good record in UAE, where he has a bowling strike rate of 15.8 in 13 T20I innings. So, the combination of his current form and his historical record makes him a must-have in your fantasy team.

PLAY NOW

This is the second match in Group 2. The winner has a good chance to go either top or second on the six-team table and boost their chances to make the knock-outs.

SEE FOR YOURSELF IN THE FTX BRACKET CHALLENGE

Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan captain: "(Preparation) is not that ideal, but for the last one and a half weeks, from when the team arrived to now, we had two warm-up games and around one week practice sessions. It's enough for those cricketers playing cricket all over the world, (we have) five, six, seven players playing different franchise cricket for the last six months, so we are in touch with cricket ... Adjusting to the conditions, gathering with the team and the composition of the team is more important."

Callum MacLeod, Scotland batter: "The good thing of having the First Round is that we've come in with confidence. We've obviously topped that group with three good hard games of cricket, so we'll come into the game with confidence. It'll be Afghanistan's first game in the tournament, and we can also go in there and put some pressure on them."