India v Afghanistan: World Cup betting preview, TV channel, team news and tips

TV: Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event, 10.30am Saturday

Hampshire Bowl, Southampton

Afghanistan's bowlers were carted around Old Trafford by England’s Eoin Morgan on Tuesday and they may be braced for more punishment from India’s powerful batting line-up.

Virat Kohli’s side have caught the eye in impressive wins over South Africa, Australia and Pakistan and it is hard to see the 14-1 Afghans troubling them at the Hampshire Bowl.

Best bets
India started their campaign at the Hampshire venue with an excellent victory over the Proteas, set up by Jasprit Bumrah’s inspired new-ball spell and sealed by a century from opening batsman Rohit Sharma.

They have looked a solid, versatile unit in subsequent wins over Australia and Pakistan, although their depth of talent will be tested by injuries to opener Shikhar Dhawan and key seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Dhawan, who scored a century against Australia, is out of the World Cup but Lokesh Rahul is a high-class replacement for India at the top of the order.

Afghanistan have struggled to make early inroads during this tournament, taking only three wickets in the first ten overs of their matches, so Sharma makes plenty of appeal at 11-4 to be India’s top runscorer.

Virat Kohli, arguably the greatest ODI batsman of all time, is the market leader and there are few holes in the skipper’s form after scores of 18, 82 and 77 in India’s three completed games.

Each time, though, Kohli has been overshadowed by a century from one of his openers – Dhawan’s 117 against Australia and Sharma’s 122 not out against South Africa and 140 against Pakistan.

Rohit also scored a fluent 57 against Australia and he is a hard man to stop when he’s on a roll. Three double-centuries, including a record 264 against Sri Lanka, are testament to his appetite for one-day runs and he may well go big against the Afghans.

The most recent ODI meeting between these teams ended in a tie at last year’s Asia Cup, albeit with India missing Sharma, Kohli and Bumrah.

Mohammad Shahzad scored a century for Afghanistan that day but he has been acrimoniously withdrawn from the tournament due to fitness problems and they don’t look a happy camp.

Star leg-spinner Rashid Khan conceded 110 runs in nine wicketless overs against England but is no bigger than 11-8 to be the top Afghanistan wicket-taker.

Hashmatullah Shahidi, who made 76 against England, is a 5-1 chance to top-score again.

Recommendation
R Sharma top India runscorer
2pts 11-4 bet365, Sky Bet

Team news
India
Kumar’s hamstring injury means Mohammad Shami comes into the pace attack. Rishabh Pant has arrived as a replacement for Dhawan, who was ruled out of the tournament with a thumb injury.

Afghanistan
There have been selection disputes behind the scenes but Aftab Alam should return after missing the defeat to England.

Venue
The Hampshire Bowl is renowned as a great batting venue – 734 runs were scored in England’s win over Pakistan in May.

In this tournament South Africa made only 227-9 against India and the West Indies were all out for 212 against England. Those totals were due to good bowling rather than tricky conditions and India and England knocked off their targets with few alarms.

Weather
Sunny and dry all day with temperatures reaching 19C.

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