India overcame their first hurdle with success on Sunday in beating Australia in a hard-fought encounter where they found themselves three wickets down in no time chasing just 200, before excellent innings from Virat Kohli and KL Rahul eventually got them over the line.
As for Afghanistan, they will have been disappointed with their performance with the bat against Bangladesh in a game they went on to lose.
So, for India, this is a chance to kick on, while for Afghanistan it’s a chance to improve on their batting, though actually winning the match looks beyond them.
📝 India vs Afghanistan odds
There are stats and betting tips coming up right now but first up, let’s consider the latest odds from the best cricket betting sites.
10CRIC
- India to win at 1.13 with 10CRIC -> Bet now!
- Afghanistan to win at 6.5 with 10CRIC -> Bet now!
Cricbaba
- India to win at 1.12 with Cricbaba -> Bet now!
- Afghanistan to win at 6.3 with Cricbaba -> Bet now!
Pure Win
- India to win at 1.12 with Pure Win -> Bet now!
- Afghanistan to win at 6.2 with Pure Win -> Bet now!
🔮 India vs Afghanistan predictions
We’re at Delhi for this one and that’s good news for India. In 20 matches they’ve played here in ODIs, they’ve won 13 of them with a no-result in there, as well. That includes winning five of their last seven here though that included defeats to New Zealand and Australia in two of their last three in Delhi.
Their last game here in 2022 saw them dismiss South Africa for just 99. Before that Australia won after posting 272 and New Zealand’s 242 in 2016 was too many for India. Back in 2014 the hosts won after scoring 263 against the West Indies, all of which suggests a first-innings score of around 260 is very competitive here. If India bat first, they’ll target 300.
Team updates
Indian opener Shubman Gill missed that game against Australia with injury and has been ruled out of this one, too.
That should mean that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer both keep their places despite both getting ducks on Sunday. They’re likely to stick with three spinners in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin, who all bowled pretty well on Sunday, so are likely to be unchanged.
Afghanistan are also likely to stick with the same side despite losing convincingly.
India likely XI:
- Rohit, Ishan, Kohli, Rahul, Iyer, Hardik, Jadeja, Ashwin, Kuldeep, Bumrah, Siraj
Afghanistan likely XI:
- Gurbaz, Ibrahim, Rahmat, Hashmatullah, Najibullah, Nabi, Omarzai, Rashid, Mujeeb, Farooqi, Naveen.
📊 India vs Afghanistan key stats
So that’s the team news done. Let’s move on to some useful stats.
- Remarkably India and Afghanistan have only ever faced each other three times in ODIs, with India winning two and the other match being a tie back in 2018.
- That tie saw Afghanistan post 252 and India failing to get the single they needed with two balls to spare, Ravindra Jadeja getting out for 25 as India were bowled out, resulting in a tie.
- In that match Afghan keeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad scored a brilliant 124 off 116 but he isn’t in their World Cup squad.
- That man Jadeja was man-of-the-match for India when they beat Afghanistan back in 2014 after taking 4/30.
- When India beat them at the 2019 World Cup in England it was a familiar name doing the damage for India with the bat; Virat Kohli’s 67 off 63 was a big factor.
- However, it was Jasprit Bumrah who was man of the match in that game after taking 2-39.
- Despite not being completely convincing against Australia, India’s odds of winning the World Cup have shortened to 2.55 with most bookies.
India vs Afghanistan betting tips
With India around the 1.12 mark and looking far too strong for Afghanistan, especially given they’re at home and more precisely in Delhi, where they have a very strong record, there isn’t a good play on the match-winner market. That is, unless India lose a couple of early wickets again and you can get a slightly bigger price in live betting on the tournament favourites.
So, we’ll look at alternative markets for good value bets. By the way, here you can check out all the best Cricket World Cup betting offers to see what free bets and other bonuses are currently up for grabs.
Ravindra Jadeja to be man-of-the-match at 12.5 (Cricbaba)
Jadeja could well have been man-of-the-match on Sunday after his 3-28 went a long way to restricting Australia to just 199.
In the end, KL Rahul got the award for his unbeaten and vital 97 not out but it could easily have gone to Jadeja, instead.
But as we’ve seen already, Jadeja has picked up a man-of-the-match award against Afghanistan from just two matches played against them (he didn’t feature in one of those three).
We suspect he’ll bowl his 10 overs again after doing so on Sunday and he was finding plenty of turn, a good omen ahead of this match. He may also have a role to play with the bat, so you’ll get a good run for your money on the CSK superstar all-rounder.
Fazalhaq Farooqi to be Afghanistan’s Top Bowler at 4.26 (10CRIC)
As ever, Rashid Khan is the favourite to be top Aghan bowler and he’s around the 2.86 mark with most betting companies.
But it may be worth giving him a miss. India’s batsmen have seen so much of him over the last few years in the IPL that they just have worked out how to play him better than most.
It’s also true that against Australia it was the fast bowlers who troubled India’s batters rather than the spinners.
All of which might open the door to Fazalhaq Farooqi. The left-armer has an excellent record of 33 wickets from 22 ODIs at a strike rate of just under 30 so ticks plenty of boxes, including the one that he bowls at the death when wickets are more likely to fall.
Best of all is a price of 4.26, far bigger than that of Rashid’s and a little bigger than his other ‘rivals’ in this betting heat.
Virat Kohli to score a century at 3.75 (Cricbaba)
Virat Kohli was the third hero of that win over Australia, his 85 was absolutely crucial in their recovery and his partnership with KL Rahul even more so.
In the end, he got out for 85 when looking to kick on for a century and that’s when he was overtaken by Rahul, in the process also missing out on the man of the match award.
But his last six innings scores have been: 121, 4, 122, 3, 56 and 85 so two centuries and a further two fifties in those last knocks, proof that he’s in fine touch.
One possibility would be to back him in the India top batsman market but there are so many good players there that even a big score from Kohli may not be enough to win it.
So, a good alternative is to just worry about what Kohli himself does. It’s 3.75 that he scores a century, and he may not have a better chance to get one than in this match, so it’s certainly worth a bet.
📺 How to watch India vs Afghanistan at the 2023 Cricket World Cup
- Location: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, India.
- Date and time: Wednesday 11 October 2023, 14:00 IST.
- How to watch: Star Sports
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