India Vs Afghanistan: Kohli's squad looks strong but replacements can spice up the game

After dreadful defeat, Afghanistan will look to bounce back against World Cup favourites India; Rain likely to stay away

After the much hyped 'marquee game', the Indian team is pumped up with energy and confidence. The World Cup favourites are now looking forward to playing against Afghanistan on June 22 at Southampton. The clash is going to be very predictive as experienced India will be playing against Afghanistan, who are playing their second World Cup tournament.

But as Ravi Shastri has correctly said right before the commencement of the World Cup that this time no one should underestimate any team as anything can happen during the campaign. The Indian head coach specifically mentioned Afghanistan team when Hazratullah Zazai scored 49 off 28 balls against Warm-up game against Pakistan.

But looking at India's pace so far, the encounter is going to be one-sided only if India produce their strongest game.

Shattered Afghanistan

The history was scripted by Eoin Morgan when he hit 17 sixes and helped to score a mammoth 397 at Old Trafford against Afghanistan. The team literally got demolished in no time as England successfully snatched a 150-run win. Morgan's 148-run knock was a message to all the team's playing in World Cup of what he can do to shatter every record. Talking about the batting situation of Afghanistan against England then the team batted considerably in a responsible manner without any threatening gestures that left them with nothing but five consecutive defeats.

This defeat has definitely tamed down the confidence of Afghan players and to make it more daunting, they will be playing unbeaten India. So basically, India will need to focus more on the mind game in order to secure a strong win.

Albeit this is the first time that Afghanistan are playing in the World Cup against India, but there is no chance that team India is taking it casually as we all remember how India-Afghanistan game was reached to a tie in Asia Cup. Therefore, no matter what, we all know that Afghanistan is having a good side with quality players since many of them have been a part of IPL as well. Rashid Khan, Mohd Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman are considered as some of the vital players from Afghan side and when it comes to the spin attack then there is nothing but just a top class quality that everyone has seen.

Even though their bowling attack was not up to the mark against England, but Dawlat Zadran and Gulbadin Naib can very well use the seaming condition in their favour.

Shami IN Bhuvi OUT

The praises are everywhere for Indian bowlers right now, as the team is walking with some world's best bowlers like Bumrah, Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav. And now it is time for Shami to show some wonders as he has been named as a replacement for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar after he suffered an injury against Pakistan.

Therefore, with the current form of Vijay Shankar and now Shami's return is going to cause some handsome trouble for the Afghanistan batsmen. Since Shami is really good with the old ball in middle overs and at the death, this replacement is not at all a compromise for the team. Thus, the Indian pace attack will look more lethal.

India has been given longer gaps after every game since the start of the World Cup, but the team has seen regularly maintaining their fitness regime and net sessions to keep the focus upright.

India indulges into chop and change

Injuries and rains have stuck like a magnet for team India. Despite remaining unbeaten in World Cup campaign, the team shared a point with New Zealand after the game was washed out. The rain also troubled thrice during India-Pakistan clash and in the end, the game was reduced by 10 overs as per the DLS method.

Shikhar Dhawan now has been officially ruled out of the World Cup after getting his finger fractured and now Rishabh Pant is called up for the rest of the campaign. Team India never expected Dhawan's absence from such an important tournament but call it a stroke of bad luck or negligence this has happened so far. Just like the previous match, India will be sending Rohit Sharma with his new opening partner KL Rahul. The Hitman will again be looking to play a big inning as he eyes to maintain his ongoing form. His consistent knocks of 133*, 57 and 140 are itself a statement that has given team India a boost in confidence.

But it has been seen that the lower order is not getting enough chance to show their skill-set including the skipper Virat Kohli. The fans are expecting a big game from him but he is doing what a captain should do for his team and that is giving constant support.

Looking at the current scenario, Afghanistan are having really bad days at office and India will look to take all advantage and they will be looking to build a massive score just like England to create pressure on the other teams showing off the capability that they have. Considering the Southampton as the batting ground, the teams that have batted first on that ground have most of the times won the match. Therefore, it is most likely to happen that the captain who will win the toss will surely elect to bat.

Weather is a sigh of relief!

Much to the delight of Indian fans, the weather is most likely to give joy to everyone as the rain is predicted to stay away during the match.

The conditions are expected to remain mostly sunny till 12 PM BST (4.30 PM IST) but after that, the overcast conditions are likely to occur but chances of rains are right now nullified. The temperature will touch to 20 Degrees Celsius whilst the lowest is expected to go down to 13 Degrees.

Therefore, this is likely to be an uninterrupted game where Afghanistan will look to bounce back and India will make sure to thump their best of the games to set a new World Cup record.