The Indian cricket team is having a bad outing at the ICC men’s T20 World Cup. Nothing is clicking for them. First, they lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets and then surrendered meekly to New Zealand by 8 wickets. Now, with the semis berth a little too far from being within the grasp, India will be looking to get back to winning ways when they face Afghanistan in their 3rd Super 12 group 2 match on Wednesday.

Ahead of the match against Afghanistan, here’s a quick look at stats from both teams.

In the T20I head-to-head contest, India and Afghanistan have played two matches against each other. One in the 2010 T20 World Cup and the other in the 2012 T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue came out victorious on both occasions.

Stat attack:

– Afghanistan, with an average score of 51, have been the best batting side in PowerPlays during this Super 12 phase.

– In 16 overs of spin during this tournament, India have just hit 3 boundaries and scored their runs at a rate of 4.75

– Hardik Pandya‘s strike rate has plummeted to a low of 118.43. This stat combines the 18 T20s that he has played in 2021 (IPL +T20Is). His best score has been 40 not out.

What India need to do in match against Afghanistan

Ravichandran Ashwin‘s inclusion on the playing XI will be back in focus as India captain Virat Kohli tries to figure out the winning combination. Ahead of the tournament, Kohli had said that the Indian team has a balanced side.

India’s run has been derailed after two crushing defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand and the performance that they have put in is not worthy of a semi-final spot even though mathematics keeps their hopes alive.

Afghanistan have won their two games against Scotland and Namibia. Against Pakistan, there were heading to a thrilling finish but Asif Ali’s belligerent hitting saw Afghanistan lose the encounter.

In this backdrop, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan would like to use all their might and T20 freelancing experience to add insult to the Indian injury and prolong the nightmare that started on October 24.

For Kohli, in probably his last three matches as T20 captain of India, one would expect some prudent team selections and it starts with the question of repeatedly ignoring a player of Ashwin’s calibre.