Pakistan don't want to be in England's situation five games into the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 leaving themselves with no room for error as they face Afghanistan in a critical game in Chennai on Monday, October 23. Pakistan have lost their last two games against India and Australia and wouldn't want to be 2-3 after five games given that they will have to win all their remaining games after that. And the surface is the one that was used for the India-Australia match, so the life won't be easy for Pakistan batters against the Afghan spin trio of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.
Pakistan will hope to take some inspiration from New Zealand, who pummeled this Afghanistan at this very venue by batting first. Eliminate the spin threat while chasing by opting to bat first and a total above 250 will be difficult to chase on that track. But Afghanistan too will know what they have to do on this wicket after suffering a 149-run mauling against the Kiwis. Pakistan's bowlers need to come to the party as the batters have had three good games but bowlers had only one.
Chennai weather forecast
Chennai will continue to be hot and dry as the radar is crystal clear for the matchday on Monday, October 23. It will be hot and humid during the first innings as there is no chance of rain which means a full 100-overs game on the cards. The temperatures will hover around a high of 33 degrees and a low of 24 degrees.
Probable Playing XIs
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Live streaming and telecast
The Pakistan-Afghanistan clash will kick off at 2 PM IST with the toss scheduled to take place half an hour before. The match will be live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD and other language-specific channels in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu on TV. The PAK vs AFG match will be live streamed on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website and mobile users can watch the match absolutely free.
