APL 2018, Match 16, Kabul Zwanan vs Kandahar Knights, Match Prediction: Who will win the match?

After a much-needed break for all the teams, the inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) enters into its final week. So far 15 matches have taken place and several Afghan stars have stepped up to the plate. In the 16th match, Kabul Zwanan and Kandahar Knights will lock horns for the second time in six days. The Knights are in a situation to win every game now and they will be looking to put up a spirited show after losing the previous face-off against Kabul by just two runs.

Asghar Afghan was delighted after defending a meagre total against the Nangarhar Leopards and would be hoping for a similar kind of performance from his team in this game. The batsmen including the skipper have failed to make any impact in this tournament so far and the time has come for them to fire big time. The bowling attack has made things look easy somehow but they will have to hunt in packs now to be able to turn around their season.

Kabul, on the other hand, are coming off a 21-run loss against the Balkh Legends. Their bowling has continued to be poor and in the last game they went on to concede 244 runs in 20 overs. Rashid Khan, the skipper, is also going through the rough patch in the last few games. With the competition getting close for the knockouts, the team should sort out their issues soon.

Pitch and Weather

The behaviour of the pitches has been weird in the last few days. The evening matches have turned out to be low-scoring and the trend might continue in this encounter as well. As far as the weather is concerned, the temperature is expected to hover around 35 Degree Celsius and the players will continue to dehydrate which has been the norm over the last 10 days.

Team Combinations

Kabul Zwanan

Kabul will definitely look to make a change in the bowling attack. The likes of Muslim Musa and Fareed Ahmad have been too expensive. Especially, the latter struggled to find his mojo and bowled a lot of no-balls which eventually cost his team. The batsmen are in scintillating touch. Hazratullah Zazai, who smacked six sixes in a single over, has to take the onus on himself once again to get them off to a decent start and more importantly, Rashid has to come out of the rut soon.

Probable XI: Luke Ronchi (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Colin Ingram, Javed Ahmadi, Laurie Evans, Shawkat Zaman, Shahidullah Kamal, Rashid Khan (c), Muslim Musa, Wayne Parnell, Fareed Ahmad/Zahir Shehzad

Kandahar Knights

The Knights have to bat well and for that to happen the skipper himself and Brendon McCullum have to take maximum responsibility. Instead of going for big shots, one of them should look to play until the end and unleash themselves in the death overs. Riki Wessels is a timely inclusion in the team and can make difference at the crucial stages while the bowlers are doing an excellent job for them. An unchanged XI is expected.

Probable XI: Brendon McCullum, Paul Stirling, Asghar Afghan (c), Karim Sadiq, Riki Wessels (wk), Najibullah Zadran, Sayed Shirzad, Mohammad Naveed, Nasir Jamal, Karim Janat, Waqar Salamkheil

Probable Top Performers

Laurie Evans – Kabul Zwanan | Asghar Afghan – Kandahar Knights

Broadcast Details

TV: DSport

Match Timings – 21:30 IST; 20:00 local

The prediction is for the Knights to register their second consecutive win.

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