 It was just eleven months back when India entered the world twenty20 as one of the favorites but exited in the second round without winning a single game against major opponents. Now they have chance to grab their T20 world cup crown back when they will start their ICC World twenty20 campaign against Afghanistan.
India won the inaugural twenty20 world cup in style but two years later they made an early exit which had tongues wagging whether the first title was more of a fluke. But this time Dhoni got the full strength squad and they have to show to the world that they are the best in this shorter format of the game. Except V.Sehwag each and every player is fit and replacement of Sehwag, M.Vijay recently showed in IPL that he is the best when he is on song. India will open their campaign against the side which is full of confidence and are keen to prove the point at international arena and that is why Dhoni is not taking even lowly AfghanistanAfghanistan then they will move to play against South Africa in the next game on Sunday May 2nd. lightly. The first huddle will be Afghanistan has some players who can easily turn the game in few overs, the players like Raees Ahmadzai, Asghar Stanikzai, Md.Nabi and Hamid Hassan. India have to be carful against these key players from Afghanistan. India have enough fire power in the batting department to chase down any total or set a huge target for the opposition. Likes of Raina, Gambhir, Yuvraj and Dhoni can do more wonders if they get going. However in the recently concluded IPL, Yuvraj Singh and Gambhir struggled to score runs for their respective franchise but Dhoni knows it’s just matter of few balls striking in the middle of the bat and these two can get back into the form. In bowling department, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh coming out of good show in the IPL and they would love to continue their form. Ashish Nehra has also showed good sign of form in whatever games he played in IPL. Watch out for Murali Vijay: A surprise inclusion in the squad after Sehwag ruled out himself of world twenty20. He will be the man to watch when he walks into bat along with Gautam Gambhir. He is in superb form and looks totally different player during IPL, his century against Rajasthan Royals was unforgettable. Mohammad Nabi: A talented player who can contribute with both bat and ball. His off-spin will prove more decisive in this year world twenty20 by considering the turning track at Caribbean. He is clean striker of the ball and is capable of scoring quick runs with the bat. Pitch & Condition The 2010 World twenty20 is hosted at three venues Guyana, St Lucia and Barbados. Out of all three venues St Lucia will be higher scoring venue where ball comes nicely on to bat. In the warm-up game also we have seen how easily Zimbabwe scored 170 plus at this venue. Whoever wins the toss, would love to bat first and put runs on the board. Any score between 165-175 will be good score on this track. Teams India is not going to take this game lightly so we can expect a full strength squad from India. Afghanistan squad is likely to be same which able to beat Ireland few days back. Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 19:00 PM India Time) India Squad: Gautam Gambhir, M.Vijay, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, M.S.Dhoni (Captain & WK), Rohit Shrama, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ravinder Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra. Afghanistan Squad: Karim Sadiq, Noor Ali, Mohammad Shahzad (WK), Nowroz Mangal (Captain), Hamid Hassan, Mirwais Ashraf, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Asghar Stanikzai, Shapoor Zadran, Raees Ahmadzai.
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