Sport
England wins toss, elects to bowl in World Cup match against Afghanistan
England won the toss on Sunday morning and elected to bowl first in what will be a crucial game for Afghanistan, which has suffered heavy defeats in both their opening games, by six wickets to Bangladesh and by eight wickets to India.
They have made one change with Najibullah Zadran losing his place in the middle order to Ikram Alikhil.
The two countries have only met twice before with England winning convincingly on both occasions – by nine wickets at the 2015 World Cup in Sydney and 150 runs in Manchester four years ago.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, are currently at the bottom of the points table with two losses from the two matches they have played.
The match against India was also played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi so Afghanistan will at least be familiar with the conditions.
Batters are expected to play a major role in England's clash against Afghanistan. In many ways, the defending World Cup champions finally arrived at the tournament in their second game in Dharamsala. After a nine-wicket loss in Ahmedabad against New Zealand, their players fired in all departments against Bangladesh as England managed a 137-run win.
The Jos Buttler-led side would hope to continue a similar run in Delhi. The Arun Jaitley wicket has proved to be good for batting thus far. And England batters, reputed for their aggressive approach, can make the most of the likely suitable conditions when at the crease.
The Afghanistan side would love to get their act together in the World Cup. They’ve impressed in phases but haven’t been able to click as a unit but would surely like their senior players, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, to give a better account of themselves in the upcoming matches.
Squads
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq.
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
Key Players
Afghanistan - Mohammad Nabi
Though they haven’t won a single ODI since July, Afghanistan came close to causing a major upset against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup at the back of a belligerent 65 from 32 balls by Mohammad Nabi.
Nabi is one of the veterans of the Afghanistan setup, who continues to contribute in all departments on and off the field. He might have missed out in the first two games of the tournament, but England would ignore Nabi at their own risk.
The hard-hitting lower-order batter is also a canny customer with the ball. And Afghanistan would love for Nabi to be at his very best in both departments.
England - Reece Topley
After a lackluster showing with the ball in Ahmedabad, England were on top of their game in Dharamsala. A big factor was Reece Topley’s 4/43 which included the big wickets of Shakib Al Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim.
England would like to complement their all-out attacking approach with the willow with a new-ball operator who can assure them of early breakthroughs going ahead in the tournament. Topley did well in Dharamsala, and he can reassure England greatly if he does well in Delhi too.
For fans in Afghanistan
Ariana Television Network is the official broadcasting partner in Afghanistan and has the exclusive rights to broadcast and stream Cricket World Cup 2023 matches into the homes of fans, live, each day.
As we fight the global quest to Stop Piracy, we appeal to our fans in Afghanistan to tune in to Ariana Television or visit www.arianatelevision.com, and stream matches live.
Please don’t support pirate broadcasters and websites streaming pirated versions!
Afghanistan’s fixtures still to come, that will be broadcast live on Ariana Television are as follows:
• Afghanistan vs England: Sunday, October 15, 2023, Delhi
• Afghanistan vs New Zealand: Wednesday, October 18, 2023, Chennai
• Afghanistan vs Pakistan: Monday, October 23, 2023, Chennai
• Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka: Monday, October 30, 2023, Pune
• Afghanistan vs Netherlands: Friday, November 3, 2023, Lucknow
• Afghanistan vs Australia: Tuesday, November 7, 2023, Mumbai
• Afghanistan vs South Afri
Sport
Ariana News to broadcast IPL auction live and exclusively in Afghanistan
The highly anticipated TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday November 24 and Monday November 25 - an event that will be broadcast to Afghanistan’s cricket fans live and exclusively by Ariana Television and Radio Network (ATN).
The two-day event will be broadcast live and exclusively on Ariana News.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this year. It will be the second time that the IPL mega auction is held outside India after last year's event in Dubai.
This year's mega auction will have 1,574 players registered, of which 574 names will go under the hammer.
Of those 574, a total of 366 players will be Indian and 208 will be foreign cricketers.
A number of big names will be in fray, with as many as 81 players choosing to register themselves under the highest base price bracket of Rs 2 crore ($237,000).
Afghan players
Eighteen Afghan players have been shortlisted for the IPL mega auction.
Two hundred and four (204) slots will be up for grabs with 70 available slots for overseas players.
Full list of Afghan players shortlisted for the auction:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Noor Ahmad
Waqar Salamkheil
Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman
Azmatullah Omarzai
Naveen-ul-haq
Zahir Khan Pakten
Sediqullah Atal
Mohammad Nabi
Gulbadin Naib
Fazalhaq Farooqi
Najibullah Zadran
Ibrahim Zadran
Qais Ahmad
Karim Janat
Faridoon Dawoodzai
Nangyal Kharote
For cricket fans across the country, the IPL mega auction broadcast will be on Sunday and Monday from 1.30pm Kabul time on Ariana News. For more information and updated stories be sure to watch this space and follow us on social media.
Sport
Pakistan trumps Afghanistan by only 13 runs in U19 Tri-Series One Day match
Chasing 245 to win, Afghanistan lost their opening batter Mahboob Khan in the first over but recovered as Uzairullah Niazai and Faisal Shinozada secured a 104-run partnership for the second wicket
Afghanistan’s U-19 cricket team went down to Pakistan by only 13 runs on Wednesday in their third tri-nation series One Day match at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
This was Pakistan’s first win over Afghanistan in the ongoing tournament after the Afghans defeated their opponents by 100 runs at the same venue on Friday.
Chasing 245 to win, Afghanistan lost their opening batter Mahboob Khan in the first over but recovered as Uzairullah Niazai and Faisal Shinozada secured a 104-run partnership for the second wicket.
After Faisal’s departure, Uzairullah soon followed with Afghanistan at 142 for three in 26.5 overs.
Afghanistan were bundled out for 231 in 46.4 overs.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Pakistan’s opening pair Shahzaib Khan and Usman Khan provided a solid 129-run stand to Pakistan.
Left-handed Usman, who scored a century against Afghanistan in the previous match, scored an 88-ball 77, which included eight fours.
Shahzaib meanwhile top-scored for the side with 78 off 101 balls, hitting seven boundaries.
For Afghanistan, Abdul Aziz Khan and Khatir Khan Stanikzai bagged three wickets apiece, while Naseer Khan Maroofkhil snapped two wickets.
Pakistan will take on the hosts UAE U19 in their last group match on Friday, 22 November.
In a post on X, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said late Wednesday: “Not the result we would have wanted but Afghanistan Future Stars will look to bounce back in the next match.”
Afghanistan will take on UAE U19 on Sunday, November 24.
Sport
Afghanistan beat UAE by 169 runs in U19 tri-series
Afghanistan under-19 cricket team defeated the United Arab Emirates under-19 team by 169 runs in their second match of the tri-nation series in Dubai on Monday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Afghans posted 359-5 as they played all the mandated 50 overs in the ICC Academy in Dubai.
Faisal Khan scored 156 runs while captain Mehboob Khan made 141.
In reply, UAE made 190 before they were all out in the 45.4 overs.
It is Afghanistan U19's second consecutive win in the two matches they have played so far in the tri-series.
Afghanistan U19 defeated Pakistan by 100 runs in their first match.
Afghanistan U19 will meet Pakistan U19 again on Wednesday.
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