Afghanistan vs India Preview: After four tough games, India prepare for minnows Afghanistan

Afghanistan and India will face off for only the third time.

After days of dark clouds and drizzle, sunshine finally made its presence felt in this part of the world. Friday was bright and sunny, almost through the whole day. Even seagulls came flying and circled the Hampshire Bowl, as if to celebrate the splendour of daylight. How the Indian team must have loved the sight of it. With their World Cup game against Afghanistan coming up here on Saturday, it was crucial for the weather to improve so the game could be staged. India are not only looking at the two points from this game, but also a significant improvement in their net run rate with an eye on the semi-final qualification order. The forecast for game day is good and a full contest should ensue. The ground, though, is still wet and needed some more drying up for it to be risk free to players. While there was some suspense over Vijay Shankar's fitness, he seemed to be match ready after going through a fitness test on Friday. Shankar said he was feeling a lot better. Asked if he would be able to play on Saturday, the allrounder said, "Yes, hopefully. Shankar was hit on ahis toe by a Jasprit Bumrah yorker at training on Wednesday. India are poised to select paceman Mohammed Shami in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is nursing a hamstring niggle. It's difficult to see how Afghanistan can trouble India. It's a match up between one of the best teams, and one of the worst, in the competition. To make it worse, the hammering Eoin Morgan gave the Afghanistan bowlers in their last game at Old Trafford would have depleted their morale even further. Their poster boy and main strike weapon, Rashid Khan, was smashed for 110 runs off his nine overs, the worst ever bowling performance at a World Cup. But cricket can be a slippery business and a team has to guard against complacent, as we saw yesterday with Sri Lanka overcoming England. The good thing is with this Indian side is the process driven professionalism that has been instilled in them to be focused on the game in front of them. The Indian bowlers had the South African's tied in knots here in their World Cup opener. Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar had made the new ball talk, and leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was incisive. A humongous total, 350 or beyond, may not be possible here. The flip side is that Afghanistan batsmen will have to face tough questions of different hues and dimensions, such is the variety in this Indian attack. It will be interesting to see how Khan comes back after the England nightmare. WATCH OUT FOR - Virat Kohli

Kohli glides one against Pakistan last Sunday.

With Williamson composing a century for himself against South Africa, Smith and Kohli remain as the last two of the star batsmen of this generation to score a century in this World Cup. Against easily the weakest bowling unit this side will face, it will be a perfect time for Kohli to post a big score if given enough overs to bat. PREDICTION

India are too strong in every department against this Afghanistan side, who was comprehensively beaten by England on Tuesday. England and India are very similar in their make up, and it would be hard to see how Afghanistan could trouble India. India to win by 120-150 runs, 7-8 wickets. STATISTICS HEAD TO HEAD ODI Matches: 2

Afghanistan: 0 India: 1 Tied: 1

HEAD TO HEAD IN WORLD CUPS

Matches: 0

Afghanistan: 0 India: 1

WORLD CUP RECORDS

Afghanistan

Matches: 10

Won: 1

Lost: 9

Best Result - Group Stage (2015)

India

Matches: 78

Won: 49

Lost: 27

Best Result - Winners (1983, 2011)

ODI Record since World Cup 2015:

Afghanistan

Matches: 67

Won: 34

Lost: 29

India

Matches: 89

Won: 59

Lost: 27