Afghanistan are set to cross their path against five-time champions Australia in the 39th match of the World Cup on Tuesday at Wankhede Stadium. It is going to be a massive clash with Afghanistan having upgraded enough to pose a greater threat to confident Australia. Australia are on a five-match winning streak but they wouldn’t be thinking for Afghanistan to be as weak as they were before as they have seen them beat England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Netherlands to remain in a commanding position. This game is going to be really important for Afghanistan to make their case for the semi-final. Afghanistan’s batting has been superb and they would rely on their spin department to provide them with wickets. Australia would look for victory as well to qualify for the semi-final after fighting back with their five victories in a row. This time around, Afghanistan have made an amazing rise in their standards, the way they handled the situations earlier, are completely different this time. They are playing with relaxed mindset and using their skills to the fullest. Afghanistan will most likely be heading into this match with the same XI. Australia, meanwhile, may look to make one or two changes as their players Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh are expected to return to the side after missing the match against England. Both teams have only been in one bilateral ODI series which was played way back in 2012 where Australia won the series by 3-0.
Australia Probable XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Afghanistan Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c) Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil(wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
