Quote from: BALIK on Today at 05:42:11 AM

Quote from: Sithara007 on Today at 05:26:46 AM

Quote from: MusaPk on Today at 04:56:05 AM

Afghanistan already have done a good job in world cup as they have won 3 games. There only mistake is that they lost to weakest side of this tournament i.e Bangladesh. For Afghanistan it's like winning the World Cup. NZ already know that rest of there games are very crucial to qualify for semis. Pakistan have not secured any win so far against strong teams so there chances are less for semis.

Afghanistan is already a full member and therefore they should strive to enter the semi-finals. For a team like Netherlands (being an associate member) it will be great news just to defeat 2-3 full members. But that is not the case with Afghanistan. If they can't enter the semi-final stage this time as well, then questions will be raised about their test status (similar to the ones that are being raised for full members who failed to qualify this time - West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe). Defeating Netherlands today should move them close to a semi-final slot, but two more tough matches await them in group phase.

Afghanistan players are in very good form now. They won 3 out of 6 matches. They have defeated teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England. I don't think Netherlands will be a tough opponent for Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan players are more confident now. Moreover, the Netherlands team is not very experienced. It will not be easy for Netherlands batsmen to stay at the crease against Afghanistan's bowling lineup. But Afghanistan's weakness is the erratic performance of their batsmen. Afghanistan cannot collect big unless the top order players perform well.

Any event can happen at any time. For example, in the 15th match of Netherlands vs South Africa, Netherlands won the match by defeating South Africa, the strongest team in this World Cup. Although today's match is a win for Afghanistan, I am not saying anything about this match because if Afghanistan's top order batsmen concede defeat too quickly, I think Afghanistan will be very weak in this match. On the other hand, Netherlands is not very strong in this World Cup, their batting line-up is a bit better, if they can throw Afghanistan in a difficult moment with good balls, then maybe it will be good for Netherlands in this match. Let's see in today's match which team can win match well.