South Africa will look to secure their first win of the tournament when they take on Afghanistan at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The 21st match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will be played on June 15 with live telecast scheduled to begin at 06:00 PM IST.
It will be ten days since South Africa would have played its last world cup 2019 match when it takes the field against Afghanistan. Only 7.3 overs were possible in the match against West Indies but South Africa lost two wickets in that short period as well. The signs are not good for South Africa. They need to win all five of their matches and hope for some luck to be able to qualify for the ICC World Cup 2019 semi-finals. They have two potential ‘easy’ games against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka which they must win and try to improve their net run-rate a bit as well.
Player To Watch Out For – Faf Du Plessis
Afghanistan has a very good spin bowling attack and they can exploit some of the weaknesses in the South African camp. Bowlers like Mujeeb, Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi can all be very difficult to handle when in form. Even more troubling has been the Afghan batting performance. Not even a single batsman from Afghanistan has shown the temperament needed to succeed at this level. Maybe Rahmat Shah is the closes Afghanistan has to a world-class batsman but he cannot win matches on his own. Every single batsman in the Afghanistan line up is going to have to play better than what we have seen in this tournament if Afghanistan is to have any hope of competing with the South Africans.
Player To Watch Out For – Rashid Khan
Pitch Report
The overcast conditions coupled with seaming tracks on offer in Cardiff have proven to be a paradise for fast bowlers this World Cup. A total of 30 wickets have fallen at this venue in the two matches thus far while the 200 run mark has only been crossed once. As a result, the captain that wins the toss on the day should have no hesitation in electing to field first.
Probable Line Ups
South Africa – Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis (c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Beuran Hendricks.
Afghanistan – Hazratullah Zazai, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib (c), Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam/Dawlat Zadran, Hamid Hassan.
PlayerzPot XI
PlayerzPot Prediction
Proteas will be eager to register their first win and as the match is do or die for the team they will be looking to win the match.
