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An important match of the World Cup is to be played between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Chennai today.
Pakistan’s cricket team is under a lot of pressure after the defeat at the hands of India and then Australia.
Whereas Afghanistan had already caused a major upset in the competition by defeating the current champion England.
But despite this, Afghanistan team is still at the bottom of the points table.
He has won only one out of four matches.
If we talk about Pakistan, then Pakistan has won two out of four matches.
But he has faced bad defeats in the last two matches.
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Pakistan team was facing a lot of criticism after the defeat against India, then in the very next match, Australia also beat Pakistan badly.
Former Pakistani cricketers and experts are leaving no stone unturned in criticizing the team.
The team’s players, inability to perform on the spot, fast bowlers not being able to make any impact and problems with the spinners – on all these fronts, former Pakistani cricketers have slammed their team.
If we talk about statistics, Pakistan seems to have the upper hand in the match against Afghanistan.
But the thing that can trouble Pakistan is the Chennai pitch.
What happened in the match between India and Afghanistan
Actually, the match between Pakistan and Afghanistan is to be held on the same pitch in Chennai, where India played its first match against Australia.
This was India’s first match in this World Cup.
In this match held in Chennai, Australia won the toss and chose to bat first.
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But his wickets kept falling and the Australian team was out after scoring 199 runs.
Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin together dismissed six Australian batsmen.
Jadeja took three wickets and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets, while Ashwin took one wicket.
Jasprit Bumrah also took two wickets on the spinning wicket.
India got the target of 200 runs. It seemed that this would be very easy for India.
But India had lost three wickets for just two runs.
Captain Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer had returned to the pavilion without scoring any runs.
But then Virat Kohli and KL Rahul made a partnership of 165 runs and took India to a winning position.
India ultimately won this match easily. India achieved this target at the loss of only four wickets.
KL Rahul scored 97 and Virat Kohli scored 85 runs.
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What is Pakistan’s concern?
Now this match between Pakistan and Afghanistan is going to be held on the same pitch on which the match between India and Australia was held.
During a TV program on Sunday, when Aakash Chopra asked former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar what would happen on the rotating pitch of Chennai.
So Shoaib admitted that the spinning pitch can create problems for Pakistan.
On one hand, the problem is that Pakistan lacks quality spinners and on the other hand, Afghanistan has many good spinners in its team.
Apart from Rashid Khan, Mujib-ur-Rehman is also with Afghanistan.
Both players can prove to be quite lethal on wickets that take spin.
Shoaib Akhtar laughingly said during the TV program that you people are deliberately playing Pakistan on this pitch.
Former Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Hafeez has also raised questions about the Chennai pitch.
During a TV programme, he said – The pitch which was used in the first match between Australia and India, has not been used even today. So it is being saved for some work.
He said that when Pakistan’s match comes, you will get an idea on which pitch it will be played.
Mohammad Hafeez also raised questions on ICC and BCCI regarding the pitch through gestures.
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Former Pakistani cricketer Rameez Raja even said that Afghanistan has the upper hand in this match.
He said that Afghanistan has three excellent spinners, while Pakistan is struggling to play against spin.
Shadab Khan was seen sweating a lot during net practice in Chennai on Sunday.
It is believed that considering the wicket of Chennai, Pakistan can also give a chance to three spinners.
Pakistan’s journey so far in this World Cup
In the first match, Pakistan defeated Netherlands by 81 runs.
(Pakistan- 286, Netherlands- 205)
Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the second match
(Sri Lanka- 344/9, Pakistan- 345/4)
India defeated Pakistan by seven wickets in the third match.
(Pakistan- 191, India- 192/3)
Pakistan lost to Australia by 62 runs in the fourth match
(Australia- 367/9, Pakistan- 365)
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Afghanistan’s journey so far in this World Cup
Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by six wickets in the first match.
(Afghanistan- 156, Bangladesh- 158/4)
Afghanistan lost to India by eight wickets in the second match.
(Afghanistan- 272/8, India- 273/2)
Afghanistan defeated England by 69 runs in the third match.
(Afghanistan- 284, England- 215)
New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by 149 runs in the fourth match.
(New Zealand- 288/6, Afghanistan- 139)
