England v Afghanistan Cricket World Cup predictions and cricket betting tips

Where to watch England v Afghanistan

Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event, 9.30am Sunday

Best bets

Dawid Malan to hit most sixes for England
1pt 6-1 bet365

Rahmanullah Gurbaz to hit a six
3pts 6-4 bet365

England v Afghanistan predictions

England's 2019 World Cup meeting with Afghanistan at Old Trafford featured a memorable innings from captain Eoin Morgan, who hit 148 off 71 balls including 17 sixes to power his side to a 150-run victory.

Morgan has retired but his aggressive brand of ODI cricket lives on in the current England team, whose batsmen should be looking forward to Sunday's fixture in Delhi.

The first match of the tournament at the venue saw South Africa rack up 428-5 against Sri Lanka, who hit 17 sixes in reply, and on Wednesday India's Rohit Sharma smashed 131 off 84 balls against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

The Afghan bowlers may be bracing themselves for more punishment against England, who were thrashed by New Zealand in the opening game of their trophy defence.

Jos Buttler's men hit back in their second match against Bangladesh as opener Dawid Malan's 140 and three early wickets from Reece Topley set up a comfortable 137-run victory.

Malan, vindicating his selection at the expense of 2019 World Cup winner Jason Roy, hit five of the ten sixes struck in the match in Dharamshala and he is a big price in bet365's market on England's top six-hitter against Afghanistan.

There is plenty of competition in that heat, with Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler at the head of the betting and Ben Stokes hoping to make his first appearance of the tournament after recovering from a hip problem.

However, Malan's attacking strokeplay is often underrated and he looks the value. Since returning to the ODI side in June 2022 he has hit three or more sixes in six of his 17 innings.

Those six knocks came in six different countries - the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, England and India - demonstrating Malan's runscoring ability whatever the conditions.

The opener may not need a Morgan-style blitz to land the odds if England bowl first and restrict Afghanistan to a modest total although the underdogs have some dangerous hitters in their ranks. 

Dashing young opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz cracked nine sixes in a warm-up win against Sri Lanka and has cleared the ropes in each of his first two World Cup innings against Bangladesh and India.

Gurbaz hit nine maximums on his ODI debut against Ireland in January 2021, eight in a century against Bangladesh in July, and his brief innings of ten in last year's T20 World Cup game against England included a well-executed slog-sweep for six off Chris Woakes.

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