Afghanistan and the West Indies are out of contention for a semifinal spot in the ICC World Cup 2019. Their World Cup campaigns have seen more lows and laced with dismal performances. Still, when the teams clash on Thursday, one thing will be at stake: Pride and honour. Both teams would love to end on a winning note and bring some cheer to their fans.
Afghanistan are yet to win a match in this World Cup. They came agonisingly close against Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan, each time failing to seize victory from favourable positions. Their bowlers, especially Mujeeb Ur Rahman, have performed brilliantly sans the match against England. They have restricted the opponents under par scores. But their batsmen have failed to compliment the bowlers. They have lost wickets at regular intervals, and the batsmen have been unable to rotate the strike. The result was a stagnation in the scoring rate. Their fielding has also been dismal, something they will have to work on after the end of this tournament.
West Indies came into the World Cup touted as the dark horse. They defeated Pakistan in their first match, but that has been their solitary win in this World Cup so far. They have performed in bits and pieces, with Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas in the bowling and Carlos Brathwaite and Shai Hope in the batting performing sporadically. The team will have to regroup and think about their future at the end of this World Cup. With Chris Gayle scheduled to play the home series against India in what will be his last outing for the national team, West Indies have the burden to fill a big void of the 'Universe Boss'.
Probable XI:
West Indies: Jason Holder (captain), Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Kemar Roach, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Evin Lewis
Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (c), Hazratullah Zazai, Asghar Afghan, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Samiullah Shinwari, Rahmat Shah, Noor Ali Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wk)
Betting odds: According to Oddschecker, Afghanistan 58/19, West Indies 3/10
