Australia v Afghanistan: All you need to know

Match Facts

Who: Australia v Afghanistan

When: Sunday June 23. Coin toss at 10am AEST, first ball at 10.30am AEST (Saturday June 22, 8.30pm local time)

Where: Arnos Vale Stadium, St Vincent and the Grenadines

How to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Officials: Kumar Dharmasena and Ahsan Raza (standing umpires), Richard Illingworth (third), Nitin Menon (fourth)

Live scores: Australia v Afghanistan match centre

World Cup standings

Although Glenn Maxwell indicated that Australia would have pushed for an even quicker finish had the rain not interfered in Antigua, the Aussies top the group with a NRR that's superior to even India, who had a comfortable win over Afghanistan.

Claiming top spot in the group could be decisive, as that would set up a semi-final with the runner up from the other Super Eight group. Here are Australia's Super Eight fixtures: 

21 June: Beat Bangladesh by 28 runs (DLS method)

23 June: v Afghanistan, Arnos Vale Ground, St Vincent, 10.30am AEST

25 June: v India, Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia, 12.30am AEST

The squads

Australia: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short

 

Players used: 13

Australia got the job done against Bangladesh after bringing their experienced fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood back into the side. They're still a fit playing group with no major injuries to speak of.

Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Hazratullah Zazai. Reserves: Sediq Atal, Saleem Safi

 

Players used: 13

Power hitter Hazratullah Zazai was initially a reserve player but he came into the squad after Mujeeb Ur Rahman's finger injury ruled him out of the tournament. There are still plenty of spin options despite the loss of Mujeeb however, led by captain Rashid Khan.

How to watch

It's a new era for watching World Cup cricket in Australia.

All 55 matches of the tournament will be shown live on Amazon's Prime Video online subscription streaming service after the internet giant recently acquired the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events for the next four years. There is no free-to-air Australian broadcast of this World Cup as a result.

You can sign up to Prime Video by clicking here.

How to recap

Everything you could need will be right here on cricket.com.au. 

We'll have a live blog in play during the match, so even if you miss some live play you can catch up on the big moments as they happened. 

Interviews, highlights and the Unplayable Podcast will all review what took place and keep you informed on the key takeaways. 

Local knowledge

The Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent and the Grenadines has been the most bowler friendly pitch in the Caribbean during this tournament, with the average score batting first only here only 127. However, that's with the caveat that all three matches here have included Associate nations Netherlands or Nepal.

While spin has been pronounced on this surface, quicks have also been effective. The slower bowlers have only been marginally tougher to score off with an economy rate of 5.64.  

Neither Australia nor Afghanistan have ever played here.

Possible starting XIs

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Australia's reserve players had a session at the Arnos Vale Ground on Friday and the coaching staff had their first in-person look at the pitch. Batting has been tough at this venue regardless of whether it has been pace or spin bowling, so Australia may opt to keep their reliable fast bowlers in and lean on Maxwell and Head for extra spin overs. However, Cummins said Australia were prepared to be flexible if Agar was selected.

"We've been pretty open with that (changing the bowling balance)," Cummins said after the Bangladesh win. "Anyone in the squad's ready to play ... you've got to be adaptable. Ash (Agar) played the last game and bowled really well, so I feel we have all bases covered."

The other consideration for Australia will be the tight turnaround between games and possibly giving one of their preferred quicks the night off.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Pacers Farooqi and Naveen are pretty close to undroppable at the moment so squeezing another slow bowler into the line up would be tough. With Mujeeb out, their back up spinner is young left-armer Nangeyalia Kharote, but he has only 3 T20Is to his name. Gulbadin and Najibullah have both struggled with the bat this tournament, but you'd imagine the experienced pair would keep their spots for such a big match.

Players to watch

Glenn Maxwell's name will forever be linked with Afghanistan after his heroic double century in last year's ODI World Cup. And who would bet against him doing something similarly spectacular this time around? Although he doesn't have a stack of runs to his name in recent innings, after his 14no off six against Bangladesh he said he's felt good without "nailing the starts". His ability to upset the opposition's spinners' lengths could be crucial on a pitch where turn is predicted.

While a lot of discussion gets focused on Afghanistan's strong spin stocks, you can't ignore form of left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi. He's taken 15 wickets in five matches, the most in the tournament, taking a wicket every 7.3 balls. He's also taken the most Powerplay wickets, with eight, while his economy rate in the death overs (final five of the innings) is a very respectable 8.08.

Recent form

Past 10 T20 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result 

Australia: WWWWWWWLW

Australia extended their winning streak to begin the T20 World Cup to five games with their 28-run win (DLS) over Bangladesh in Antigua. Few sides in the tournament have the form that the Aussies are showing at the moment, managing to win on a range of different surfaces.

Afghanistan: LLWWWWWLWL

The tournament started so brightly for Afghanistan but has quickly taken a concerning turn, with two big losses to West Indies and India in recent days. They simply must defeat Australia if they want to make the semi-final stage, and by a decent margin too in order to make up their poor net run-rate.

Last time they met

Just one meeting in this format of the game, at the T20 World Cup that Australia hosted in 2022. The hosts needed a big victory to ensure their path through to the semi-finals, but Afghanistan ran them all the way and only fell short by four runs. Maxwell was player of the match for his 54no of 32 but it was Rashid Khan's cameo at the end that nearly stole it for the Afghans, smashing 48 off only 23 balls.

Head-to-head

Played: 1

 

Australia wins: 1

 

Bangladesh wins: 0

Rapid stats

• Haratullah Zazai's 162no against Ireland in 2019 included 16 sixes, that's the equal-most in a single innings in a men's T20I.

• David Warner's 53 not out against Bangladesh takes him to 975 runs in all men's T20 World Cups, he would be the first Aussie to 1000 and only the fourth player ever to the feat.

• Adam Zampa is the most prolific bowler in the middle overs (overs 7-15) this tournament, with 10 wickets and an economy rate of 4.71 in that period.

• Australia have won their last eight men's T20Is; a ninth consecutive win in this match would be their outright longest winning run (excluding Super Over wins) in the history of the format (they also won eight from February 2019 to February 2020).

• Afghanistan have taken 14 wickets during the Powerplay at the T20 World Cup 2024, the most of any team; their bowling strike rate during this period (12.9) is the best of any team and one of only two teams with a rate under 15 in this campaign (Pakistan 14.4).

Where to next?

Australia return to St Lucia (where they defeated Scotland) to play India in the final match of the Super Eight stage. Afghanistan stay in St Vincent to take on Bangladesh.

Australia's Group B fixtures

June 6: Beat Oman by 39 runs

June 9: Beat England by 36 runs

June 12: Beat Namibia by nine wickets

June 16: Beat Scotland by five wickets

Super Eight fixtures 

21 June: Beat Bangladesh by 28 runs (DLS method)

23 June: v Afghanistan, Arnos Vale Ground, St Vincent, 10.30am AEST

25 June: v India, Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia, 12.30am AEST

Semi-finals to follow if Australia qualify

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