Afghanistan will face New Zealand in the first match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday. This match is very important for Team India. If Afghanistan wins this match, the doors of India to reach the semi-finals will be opened.
On the other hand, if New Zealand's team wins, then India's path will be closed. Indian supporters are also with Afghanistan in this match. This support is already being seen on social media.
Both New Zealand and Afghanistan are still in the race for the semi-finals. For New Zealand the equation is straightforward. They have to win the match and enter the semi-finals.
Afghanistan will have to win by a huge margin to keep their semi-final hopes alive. India will also be in benefit if Afghanistan wins.
India's last match is against Namibia on Monday. If the Afghan team wins today, then India's team will know by what margin they have to win before the match against Namibia.
Afghanistan's opener Hazratullah Zazai has a career strike rate of 148.64, but in this tournament he has scored runs at a strike rate of just 116.88. This year, three out of four big scores have come in the ground in Abu Dhabi and if Afghanistan is to score big, then Zazai will have to play an impressive innings.
On the other hand, Trent Boult can be fatal from New Zealand. Boult has taken 8 wickets in the tournament, but has only two wickets to his name in the Powerplays. In Abu Dhabi, the fast bowlers get help from the start and if Boult can swing with the new ball, he can make New Zealand's job easier.
The status on the fitness of Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman is still unclear. If he is fit, he will replace Naveen-ul-Haq or left-arm spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf. There is no chance of change in the Kiwi team. In the last match against Namibia, Ish Sodhi had suffered a head injury off David Visa, but he is now fit.
There have been some high-scoring matches on this ground, but low scores in the powerplays are also true. Here, the fast bowlers get help in the beginning. But as the match progresses, the pitch will become flat.
Afghanistan and New Zealand have never faced each other in T20 International matches. There have been two matches between these two teams in the 2015 and 2019 One-Day World Cups and the Kiwi team has won both.