Afghanistan, like Zimbabwe and Ireland will have nothing to lose when they take on India. Their only previous meeting was in the World T20 last edition, when the minnows were bundled for 115, India coasted home with five overs to spare, Afghanistan will not want another similar performance. Guys like Asghar Stanikzai will need to play to their potential as their team does not possess necessary technique to survive against good bowling. If they can make a good contribution and muster 170 that will be an achievement, not that will ensure a win. 
For, India, who won the inaugural event in 2007, it has been tough, they have not made to the semis since, they will look to players like Kohli and Raina to come good, the latter is the only centurion in this format for the side which has a rich experience in this format thanks to the IPL. India are set to go with seven batters and four bowlers.
Better chance for a team like Afghanistan would be a rain-curtailed game
STATS:
- Second match for these two teams in T20 cricket.
- India has the only match they have played at Khettarama.
My XI:
India: 1.G Gambhir, 2.V Sehwag, 3.V Kohli, 4.RG Sharma, .5.Yuvraj Singh, 6.SK Raina,7. MS Dhoni*†, 8.Z Khan, 9.IK Pathan, 10.R Ashwin, 11.Harbhajan Singh
Afghanistan: 1 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 2 Javed Ahmadi, 3 Karim Sadiq, 4 Nawroz Mangal (capt.), 5 Asghar Stanikzai, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Samiullah Shenwari, 8 Dawlat Zadran, 9 Shapoor Zadran, 10 Gulbodin Naib, 11 Izatullah Dawlatzai
© CricTurf 2012 | @crickstats
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