PAK vs AFG: 'Difficult for Pakistan to Make a Turnaround, Afghanistan Slightly Ahead as Favourites' - Ramiz Raja

Former PCB chief Ramiz Raja feels that Afghanistan will start favourites against Pakistan if the track in Chennai assists the spinners during the ODI World Cup match on Monday, October 23. Pakistan cricket team has lost their last two matches in the ongoing mega tournament and their chances of qualifying for the semifinals are also getting slimmer as they are yet to face heavyweights like England, New Zealand and South Africa.

The match against Afghanistan is going to be very crucial for Pakistan to get their campaign back on track. However, the Pakistan batters’ recent struggle against the spinners will boost Afghanistan’s chances of staging a big upset in the tournament.

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Raja also suggested that the current form of the Pakistan batters against spin will make Afghanistan favourites on the spinning wicket.

“It will be difficult for Pakistan to make a turnaround. Anything can happen in Chennai in their next match is against Afghanistan. Keeping in mind the performance of Pakistan batters against spin, anything can happen here. If it’s a spinning wicket, I think Afghanistan will be slightly ahead as favourites,” Raja was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

Afghanistan have three quality spinners in the squad – Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.

Meanwhile, Pakistan suffered a defeat to Australia on Sunday courtesy of a brilliant 163-run knock by David Warner. However, Pakistan had a golden opportunity to dismiss Warner cheaply but Usama Mir dropped a simple catch to give him an extra life.

“It is rare in cricket that if a catch is dropped, a player suffers punishment throughout the match. Usama Mir dropped a simple catch. Warner then had 10 runs and he went on to score 163 runs. I have never seen a team get such a huge penalty for dropping a catch,” Raja said.

The former skipper said that the drop catch changed the game as he criticised Pakistan below-par show in the fielding.

“From there, the shape of the match changed. If Shaheen could have sent back Warner, Australia could have been put under pressure. Pakistan’s fielding was very bad. Because of that, pressure was created,” Raja added.