Twenty20 / Andrew Hughes / 29 April 2010 /

Affiliate ICC members Afghanistan take on the superstars from India on Saturday in what, on the face of it, could be a fairly one-sided affair. Andrew Hughes previews the opening fixture in Group C.

Venue and conditions

The Beausejour Cricket Ground has never hosted a Twenty20 game, so we have no statistics to guide us. But given that most of the pitches in the Caribbean have gone the same way in recent years, we can expect a slow, dry track with plenty of help for the spinners.

Team News

Afghanistan are a settled side and are unlikely to make many changes. All-rounder Mirwais Ashraf may well miss out with quick bowler Dawlat Ahmadzai getting his chance.

For India, Murali Vijay will partner Gautam Gambhir and they may decide against picking three seam bowlers with Ravindra Jadeja likely to be preferred to Piyush Chawla as the second spinner. Praveen Kumar and Asish Nehra will fight it out to open the bowling with Zaheer Khan.

Match Odds

Afghanistan's morale could not be higher after qualifying for this tournament in style in February and comfortably disposing of Ireland in a warm-up game. India, meanwhile, have a poor record in major tournaments and crashed out in the Group stages of the last World Cup held in the Caribbean. So could an upset be on the cards?

More pertinently, do the odds reflect the correct chances of these two teams? The superstars of India, fresh from the IPL, are obviously favourites. But a price of [1.04] is eye-wateringly short for such a volatile format. Afghanistan will be keen to give a good account of themselves and, purely on the odds, they are worth backing at [21.0]

Top Batsman

There are some bit hitters in the Afghan squad and probably the most explosive of those is wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shazhad, who is worth a look at [5.5]

Yuvraj Singh has yet to prove he is back in form and whilst Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni are obviously strong candidates, the sensible choice is Gautam Gambhir, who is likely to look to bat right through and can be backed at [4.0]

Featured Market

The Indian openers will give themselves a chance to adjust to the pitch, knowing they will have time to make up runs later on against this attack. You should consider backing '6 Runs or Less' in the India First Over Runs market at [2.5] or better

Trivia

The Beausejour Stadium was the first to host a floodlit cricket match in the Caribbean, when West Indies played Zimbabwe in 2006.

Andrew Hughes says: Back Afghanistan to beat India at [21.0]

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