Australia vs Afghanistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Match 26 Preview: Wounded Aussies look for redemption at home

When scarred, the Australians have been past masters of bouncing back with a growl.

Updated: March 3, 2015 8:42 PM IST

By R Vishal

Australia vs Afghanistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Match 26 Preview: Wounded Aussies look for redemption at home

Af-aus

Michael Clarke must be heaving a sigh of relief to start with. The final exchanges in the humdinger of a contest with rivals New Zealand at Auckland in the ICC World Cup 2015, where Kane Williamson kept his nerve to finish the match wit h a six was not for the weak hearted.  After staging a lion-hearted comeback, the Australians are now licking their wounds and seek victory against an inferior opponent. If there is one lesson that teams across the world would have taken note of Afghanistan, it is that they care very little about reputation. Mohammad Nabi and his side are coming into this contest after going through the biggest euphoria the country is going trough. Catch the top five battles of the match here

That win against Scotland will sure to loom over of the heads of the Afghanis as they begin to take baby steps to return back to earth. Afghanistan could not have met Australia at worse time. When scarred, the Australian have been past masters of bouncing back with a growl. Mitchell Johnson was sent packing by a blood thirsty Brendon McCullum but the name resonating across cricket fans Down Under is Mitchell Starc. New Zealand simply had no answer to the left-armer’s toe-crashing yorkers and is now one of the players to watch out for in this tournament.   ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Schedule: Complete Fixtures & Time Table of all Cricket World Cup 2015 Matches.

Afghanistan’s pace trio — Shapoor and Dawlat Zadran and Hamid Hassan — have been in top notch form. Traditionally known to be a bowler’s paradise, the WACA will offer plenty of pace and bounce and the rising Asian side would have taken note of the manner in which the Australian middle order collapsed in Auckland. That may well be a one-off as the team has seldom lost their way in the batting order the way they did in their last game. It remains to be seen whether George Bailey makes his way back in the side though. Captaining the side for the better  part of two years , Bailey has been relegated since Clarke’s arrival. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 – Full Points Table

Afghanistan’s catching has been under the scanner and if the home side is batting first, a drop catch will be brutally punished by a David Warner or an Aaron Finch. Afghanistan has arrived, now it’s time to show that they are here to stay.

Squads

Australia:

Michael Clarke (c), George Bailey, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner.

Afghanistan:

Mohammad Nabi (c), Afsar Zazai (wk), Aftab Alam, Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Javed Ahmadi, Mirwais Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Nasir Jamal, Nawroz Mangal, Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran, Usman Ghani.

Timings: 12.00 p.m IST

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