WI vs BAN

Key Features –

1. Shai Hope and Evin Lewis put up a great partnership for the 2nd wicket and scored 96(121) and 70(67) respectively to take the total to 321 in 50 overs.

2. Shimron Hetmeyer and Jason Holder played some great knocks towards the end scoring 50(26) and 33(15) respectively.

3. Even though the Windies ended up scoring 321 in 50 overs, Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin picked up 3 wickets each and had good spells of 3/59(9) and 3/72(10) respectively.

4. Shakib Al Hasan once again proving as to why is he the No.1 ranked All Rounder. He bowled a spell of 2/54(8) and is the top scorer of this World Cup as of now by scoring a brilliant 124(99)* today. He becomes the third person in this World Cup to score two centuries after Root and Rohit.

5. Liton Das showed his proper temperment and what can he bring to the team no matter what position he plays in. He scored a worthy knock of 94(69)* to build a match winning partnership with Shakib of 189(135), after the loss of Sarkar, Tamim and Mushfiqur early on in the innings.

6. Bangladesh becomes the first team to successfully chase a target of 300+ in World Cup 2019 as of yet.

Post-Match Analysis –

1. Bangladesh winning today means West Indies, after a dream start against Pakistan, is almost certain to be the fourth team to get eliminated from the tournament after SA, PAK and AFG.

2. Chasing a target of 322, which apparently is the second highest successful run chase in World Cup history, that too against a bowling attack of 5 seamers all bowling 145+ is never an easy feat to achieve. Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan made the chase look so easy and chased it down with 51 deliveries to spare. This surely should be a wake up call for all the teams who are yet to play against them that they shouldn’t count them out so easily and are a tough team to reckon with.

3. Every team probably has their BEST batsman batting at the No.3 position, except for Sri Lanka. Shakib Al Hasan for Bangladesh and Shai Hope for West Indies proves why are they the best for the team today. Rest of them are Virat, Root, Williamson, Smith, Babar, Rahmat and Faf for their respective countries.

4. Bangladesh now has 2 wins and is back into contention for the qualification in this World Cup, but remember they are yet to play Australia, India and Pakistan in their remaining 4 games, which probably makes their condition worse.

5. Shakib Al Hasan looks to be the lone consistent batsman for Bangladesh with scores of 75(84) vs SA, 64(68) vs NZ, 121(119) vs ENG and 124(99)* vs WI, all against the top teams! No.1 All Rounder for a reason well proved by him!

6. West Indies play New Zealand next who are still undefeated in this World Cup. On the other hand, Bangladesh take on Australia next who are, as of now, the table toppers with 8 points to their name.

7. West Indies is now placed 7th on the points table with 3 points in 5 games. And Bangladesh just cruised up to the 5th position with 5 points to them!

Up Next –

England vs Afghanistan

Probably one of those one-sided encounters which might just be a blessing in disguise for Afghanistan if it rains but always advantageous to England who can look to cruise their Net Run Rate.

Jason Roy won’t be available for England in tomorrow’s encounter as well as the next one which is against Sri Lanka, hence I don’t think England would really miss him as such for these two matches since they obviously have the upper hand in both these encounters.

England are the 1st ranked team in the ICC ODI Rankings and Afghanistan are apparently 10th, which is last according to the teams playing in this World Cup. And along with that is the fact that Afghanistan haven’t won a single game whereas England are one of the favourites to qualify and already have 3 wins in 4 matches, positioned 4th on the table. And to add to the misery is that England are the hosts. Hence, can’t really imagine a contest between the two and England should always have the upper hand tomorrow.

Probable XIs –

AFG – Zazai, Noor, Rahmat, Najibullah, Shahidi, Nabi, Naib, Ikram, Rashid, Aftab, Hamid

ENG – Bairstow, Vince, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Stokes, Moeen, Woakes, Archer, Wood, Rashid

Probable Replacements –

1. Jason Roy’s injury opens the window for James Vince to play against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka since he’s their backup opener. So Root will continue at No 3 even though he scored a century in the previous game as an opener. Also, Plunkett should be rested making way for Moeen Ali. Hence, making their combination of 5 proper batsmen, 3 all rounders, 2 spinners and 4 seamers.

2. Asgar Afghan replaced Najibullah Zadran in the previous match which was a surprise since the latter was in consistent form and was the lone fighter for their team in the middle order. Hence, I expect Najibullah to come back in place of Afghan who scored a 0(5) against South Africa. Though, it won’t be a surprise if Samiullah Shenwari gets a match since Afghanistan are already eliminated of the tournament and could bring back their benched players Dawlat, Mujeeb and Shenwari in their remaining matches.