India started their campaign off with a gritty win over Australia which worked as favourably as it could for them. While the chase of 200 threatened to go awry early on with India losing three wickets for just two runs, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli's masterful partnership ensured that India won the match by six wickets with a healthy margin of 52 balls in hand. This gave India a good net run rate to start with and they can now give it a further boost if they justify their status as outright favourites against Afghanistan in their second match.
India vs Afghanistan Live Updates World Cup 2023
The two sides have rarely played ODIs against each other. India have won all three encounters between the sides thus far, with the last match coming in the 2019 World Cup. India had gone with three spinners in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in Chennai, with the wicket providing turn from early in the game. However, the second match will be held in Delhi which is far more conducive to fast bowling. Head coach Rahul Dravid had said how India will be looking to adapt to different conditions and so there is a chance that they might consider including Shardul Thakur at the cost of one of the spinners. With Jadeja's abilities as an all-rounder putting him above that of Ashwin's, it is likely that the latter would have to sit this one out.
Apart from that, though, it is unlikely that India would make any more changes to the squad. Shreyas Iyer may have fallen for a duck but the management will be looking to stick with him. The same goes for Ishan Kishan, especially considering the fact that Shubman Gill remains unavailable for this match. The pair and the other Indian batters will in fact be looking to make merry at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, as South Africa and Sri Lanka did in the match between the two sides that broke quite a few World Cup run scoring records. Kohli missed out on a century but would be looking to make amends here. If he manages to get to three figures, Kohli would be just one century away from equaling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 tons in ODIs.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from that, though, it is unlikely that India would make any more changes to the squad. Shreyas Iyer may have fallen for a duck but the management will be looking to stick with him. The same goes for Ishan Kishan, especially considering the fact that Shubman Gill remains unavailable for this match. The pair and the other Indian batters will in fact be looking to make merry at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, as South Africa and Sri Lanka did in the match between the two sides that broke quite a few World Cup run scoring records. Kohli missed out on a century but would be looking to make amends here. If he manages to get to three figures, Kohli would be just one century away from equaling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 tons in ODIs.
{{/usCountry}}India predicted XI vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023:
Openers: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan
Top and middle-order: Virat Kohli, KL Rahul(wk), Shreyas Iyer
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur
Spinner: Kuldeep Yadav
Pacers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj