ICC Dream11 Preview: India vs Afghanistan

India vs Afghanistan The Hampshire Bowl, Southampton June 22, 2019 10:30 AM BST

Overview: A struggling Afghanistan will take on a rampant Indian side in the 28th match of the tournament at Southampton on Saturday. Nothing has gone right for the Afghans as they have lost all six of their matches so far. The Indian team, on the other hand, have been flawless having accumulated seven points from their four games, with three wins and one wash out among them.

Afghanistan's batting has been fragile, their pace bowling department has lacked venom and their spinners have been rendered ineffective in these conditions too. However, they will derive confidence from their previous meeting against India during the Asia Cup last year, which ended up in a tie. Afghanistan need all the positivity and hope they can get before going into this tough encounter.

Predicted line-ups

**India:**Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

Afghanistan: Rahmat Shah, Noor Ali Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Ali Khil (wk), Gulbadin Naib (c), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dawlat Zadran

Fantasy team

Wicket-keeper: MS Dhoni and Ikram Ali Khil

It doesn't look like MS Dhoni will need to bat considering how much Afghanistan’s bowlers have struggled. But you can expect him to earn plenty of points through catches and stumpings. Ikram Ali Khil hasn't done much with the bat in the tournament so far but his low price tag of 8 credits helps in accommodating other Indian players with high price tags.

Batsmen: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Noor Ali Zadran

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been in excellent form in the tournament. While Rohit is averaging 159.50 with 319 runs to his name in three innings, Kohli hasn't done bad either with 177 runs at an average of 59.00. Rahul also found form with a gritty knock of 57 runs against Pakistan. The Afghan bowling line-up might find it tough to get past these three. Expect them to get big runs irrespective of whether India bats or bowls first.

Noor Ali Zadran is the only Afghan batsman we have picked as he comes at only 8 credits. Moreover, he has made a couple of fighting 30s against the new ball attacks of South Africa and New Zealand, so it is safe to back him for this match as well.

All-rounders: Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib

The last time India and Afghanistan locked horns in an ODI, Mohammad Nabi showed his all-round brilliance with a knock of 64 runs and a spell of 10-0-40-2. Such a performance helped Afghanistan to tie the match and they will be hoping for something similar from him this time around as well.

Naib, on the other hand, is the joint-highest wicket-taker and the third highest run-getter for Afghanistan at CWC19 with five wickets and 100 runs to his name. He picked up three wickets and scored 37 runs in the previous match against England and that sums up his fantasy value.

Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal

You just can't go without these three Indian bowlers in your fantasy team. The Afghan batsmen could find it hard to deal with the pace of Bumrah and Shami. While Bumrah has already impressed with five wickets in the tournament so far at an average of 29.60, Shami will be playing his first game in this World Cup. However, he is coming into this tournament on the back of a good performance in the IPL and has 19 ODI wickets to his name this year at an impressive average of 26.42 as well. Chahal has been impressive too. His six wickets in the competition so far have come at an excellent average and strike-rate of 27.66 and 27.0 respectively.

Captaincy Options

Best Bet: Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami

Alternatives: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli