World Cup 2019: Australia vs Afghanistan - 5 players to look out for

Defending champions Australia face off against Afghanistan in their World Cup 2019 match on the 1st of June at Bristol. Australia has every reason to believe that it is a fixture that they can emerge victorious in.

After a miserable 2018 in which they won only two of their 13 ODI matches, the 2015 tournament winners bounced back this year just in time for the World Cup. They have won nine of their 13 matches thus far, including series victories over India and Pakistan.

But they should not make the mistake of underestimate Afghanistan, who are improving by the day. Over the last four years, the Asian minnows have recorded upset wins against the West-Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

A few of their key players must perform for them to stand any chance of spoiling Australia’s party. Let us analyze five players to look out for ahead of the match on Saturday.

#5 Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins

Australia will hope that Cummins remains fit at the World Cup 2019, given his history with injuries. This will be his second World Cup campaign, having been part of the 2015 edition where Australia won their fifth title. Cummins only featured in two matches, picking up five wickets.

The pacer has picked up 82 wickets from 48 matches in his ODI career. He has enjoyed an outstanding 2019, taking 17 wickets in six matches at an average of 14.29.

The 26-year-old is set to open the bowling with Mitchell Starc on Saturday. Afghanistan’s batsmen will have a tough job facing off against Starc and Cummins with the new ball.

Cummins can trouble the Afghanistan batsman with his frightening pace and bounce. He will hope to build up the pressure, paving the way for spinners Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa to strike in the middle overs.

Spinner Glenn Maxwell and seam bowler Marcus Stoinis will add extra bowling options from overs 10 to 40.

#4 Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan is sought after in the cricketing world by many franchises in tournaments such as the IPL, Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League.

He has been superb for Afghanistan since making his international debut shortly after the 2015 World Cup.

The mercurial 20-year-old has already taken 125 wickets in 59 matches, stats which propelled him to third on the ICC ODI bowling rankings. Although 41 of these matches have come against minnows Zimbabwe and Ireland, Khan’s stats nonetheless make for impressive reading.

Together with countryman Mohammad Nabi, Rashid played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2019, where the youngster picked up 17 wickets in 15 matches.

If Australia get off to a good start on Saturday, Khan’s job will be to pick wickets in the middle-overs and thus restrict his opposition to an achievable total. His ability to read the match can come in handy under any situation.

#3 Steve Smith

Steve Smith

Steve Smith’s technique has been labeled as unorthodox in the past, but it has clearly worked for him as he has now scored almost 10,000 international runs, with 31 centuries, leading up to March 2018. He was then banned for a year, as he was part of the same scandal as David Warner, and his career seemed to be over.

Move onto May 2019 and Smith is in splendid form. He has hit three successive half-centuries and a century since his return (albeit in warm-up matches) and is set to bat at number four against Afghanistan on 1 June.

The 29-year-old will look to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the middle-overs, before accelerating later on. The rest of the batting order can bat around Smith. The ideal situation is to have wickets in hand so that the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell can wreak havoc in the final 10 overs of Australia’s innings.

#2 Mohammad Shahzad

Mohammad Shahzad

In Mohammad Shahzad, Afghanistan has a destructive opening batsman.

Shahzad has proven to be the best Afghanistan batsman in his decade-long career. He is their top run-scorer with 2,727 runs from 82 matche,s as well as their leading century-maker, with six tons to his name. The 31-year-old has a decent average of 34 in international cricket.

The batsman scored his previous century against India in the Asia Cup in September 2018, a match which Afghanistan incredibly tied, despite the odds.

The team will look towards him on Saturday to get them off to a good start. If he scores runs, it will help the likes of Mohammad Nabi in the middle-order to play their natural game.

Shahzad apparently relishes pace bowling and will not be troubled by Australia’s pace bowling duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. If Australia does not get him out early, Shahzad can take the game away from his opposition.

#1 Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc

Starc has been one of Australia’s best bowler’s in an ODI career spanning nine years. He has taken 145 wickets in 75 matches since making his debut.

Starc’s World Cup CV is impressive, having debuted at the 2015 edition. The bowler took 22 wickets in only eight matches as his side won the title, and ended up as the top wicket-taker.

The tournament enhanced his reputation as a world-class bowler.

In February 2019, the 29-year-old suffered an injury against Sri Lanka, which put his World Cup 2019 participation in doubt.

Having recovered in time, though, for Saturday’s match, Starc will hope to repeat his World Cup success against Afghanistan.

On match-day, his left-arm bowling will add variety to Australia’s attack.

With the older ball, he shows superb control. If he manages to get reverse-swing, the Australian can make short work of the tail with his fast in-swinging yorkers. Starc will bowl at the Afghanistan batsman’s stumps, so they should be wary of being trapped LBW or getting bowled.