T-20:Afghan test for wary India in ICC World Twenty20-India vs Afghanistan-Cricket, Sports

St Lucia: Up against an unheralded Afghanistan in their tournament-opener, India will have to guard against complacency to ensure a flying start to their campaign in the ICC World Twenty20 here.

Beausejour Cricket Ground will host a match between New Comers Afghanistan and former T20 Champions India in the third match of the T20 World Cup. It’s obvious that Afghan’s are new to this international league, though, they will stand hard at their opponent under the skipper Nowroz Mangal.India can achieve a comfortable win in this match but they shouldn’t take their opponent on a lighter side, even they are not aware of the playing skills of these newbie.

Considering there is very little room for errors in the slam-bang format of the game, India would have to be at their best to avoid the ignominy of being destroyed by the minnows of international cricket.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has already warned his star-studded legion not to underestimate Afghanistan and teammate Yuvraj was also worried about the X-factor of their opponents, who have caught the imagination of the world over the last two years.

"It can be dangerous when you don’t know what the opposition is like. After ten overs you will end up in a situation when you don’t know what you are going to do."

Meanwhile, Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan has warned the Indians, saying his side were unperturbed by their reputation and will look to exploit the surprise element to dazzle Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in their ICC World Twenty20.

"If one batsman fails, the other one will win us the match. If one bowler doesn’t perform, another guy will bowl well. It has been a story of total team performance. I think we have good side which is capable of pulling off an upset," Karim explained.

Another important component of their team, all-rounder Karim Sadiq feels the fact that they don’t depend on any individual gives them an edge over the mighty Indians.

Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan has warned the Indians, saying his side were unperturbed by their reputation and will look to exploit the surprise element to dazzle Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in their ICC World Twenty20 opener Saturday.

"On the technical side it is good that they don’t know us because when they know about you they will plan.

The coaches will watch the videos and work on our weakness. Luckily, we know everything about them.

We have seen all their IPL games. We will give them a surprise which will make them remember us after the game," Kabir said.

Another important component of their team, all-rounder Karim Sadiq feels the fact that they don’t depend on any individual gives them an edge over the mighty Indians.

"They have all performed. We haven’t got a certain guy we bank on. We have got a batting line-up which runs down to number eight. And we have got seven bowlers to choose from.

Captain Nawroz Mangal also exuded confidence and said his side would give their everything and grab the opportunity of playing at such a high level.

"We are very happy that we are here. We worked really hard for it for the last two years and that has put us in the top 12 teams in the competition.

"We know there is a lot of pressure back home. But we have already fought in pressure cooker conditions and we are used to it.

We will give our 100 per cent in this pressure game," said Nawroz. More than their epoch-making performances, Nawroz was glad that cricket had unified the people of Afghanistan.

"It is a great achievement. If we have qualified, it is because of the whole nation’s prayers. If the whole nation is praying for you, it means that it is bringing the whole nation together. Cricket is already playing a role in Afghanistan and it can play a major role in the peace process in the region," emphasised the 28-year-old.

"We have been playing together for the last seven-eight years. The players are united and they love their country. They are hungry for cricket and want to prove that they are the next coming cricket team nation in the world.

Afghanistan make their big-screen debut on Saturday’s morning show, a sleeper that suddenly became a smash hit by defying every script written for them. A team from a war-torn, dysfunctional country, with half their players born in refugee camps, they narrowly missed qualifying for the 2007 World Cup but are making up for it with this tournament. They have surprised many an Associate team during their stunning rise from Division Five to a world event. Yet they will know that what they are going to face – the pace of Zaheer Khan, the spin of Harbhajan Singh, the might of MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh – is nothing like anything they have faced so far.

India will know Afghanistan are not quite Bangladesh, but it was a first-match loss to perceived minnows three years ago that knocked them out of the 50-over World Cup. They have not played a warm-up match this time, know little about their opponents and will want to be as alert as against their other group-mates, South Africa. On the other hand, they would like this slow transition from the IPL to top-level international cricket. A win against Afghanistan, no matter what the margin, will more or less assure them a place in the next round. How the tournament would love an upset, though.

The only dampener is the timing of the match. Almost all India games in this tournament have 9.30am starts – 7pm in India – as opposed to the usual evening timings for matches played in the West Indies. Clearly the TV audience gets a preference to the islands hosting the event, only three years after a disastrously organised World Cup. Who will ‘Bring It On’ at 9.30am?

Form guide (most recent first)

Afghanistan WLWWW
India WLLLL

Suresh Raina is coming off a successful IPL, where he was Man of the Final, and gave Sachin Tendulkar a fight for the Man-of-the-Tournament award. Will he be able to carry that promise into a big tournament, after having flattered to deceive often?

Mohammad Nabi, an offspinning allrounder, was the leading wicket-taker at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers, with 13 wickets at 10.53 to ease Afghanistan’s way. He scored 58 on his ODI debut and 102 in his first first-class game, and although he doesn’t have a body of work behind him in Twenty20s, he has a strike-rate of 134.24 for his 98 runs.

Team news

Twenty20 is not where you experiment, not even against Afghanistan. They might not have had a warm-up match, but don’t expect Indian to experiment too much, for this is an important game.

India: (possible) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 M Vijay, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 Ravindra Jadeja/Yusuf Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar/R Vinay Kumar, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Afghanistan: (possible) 1 Karim Sadiq, 2 Noor Ali, 3 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 4 Nowroz Mangal (capt), 5 Hamid Hassan, 6 Mirwais Ashraf, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Samiullah Shenwari, 9 Asghar Stanikzai, 10 Shapoor Zadran, 11 Raees Ahmadzai.

Pitch and conditions

Going by warm-ups, this seems to be a high-scoring venue, and one for giant-killing: inside three days, Zimbabwe have successfully defended 173 and 143 against Australia and Pakistan respectively. Zimbawe’s spinners, and Shahid Afridi seem to have enjoyed themselves. What will interest India a bit more is the forecast for scattered showers. A washed-out match against a minnow team can seriously jeopardise progress in such an event.

Stats and trivia

This will be the first Twenty20 international for Gros Islet.
Afghanistan’s 66.67% is a better success-rate than India’s 55% in Twenty20 internationals, but Afghanistan have played only six matches, and that too against Associate teams.
Quotes
"I don’t take my opponents lightly. At the end of the day you have to win whichever team you play… Our preparation will remain the same as if you are playing the best opponent in world cricket."
MS Dhoni knows there is no room for under-estimation in World Twenty20′s snappy format.
"I know there will be pressure; there will the pressure of television, the pressure of the crowd, but they are quick learners and I hope they will adjust to it."
Kabir Khan, Afghanistan’s coach, knows business is about to pick up.