Scotland plays Afghanistan in the first of the two ODIs at Cambusdoon New Ground in Ayr on Monday. The two sides are currently involved in a four-day Intercontinental tournament clash, and by the looks of things, Afghanistan is on their way to win the game by a huge margin.

Afghanistan's rise in the ICC rankings has been phenomenal, and apart from Ireland, they have been beating almost every other international side. Their batting has been strong while their bowling has the pace bowling firepower to exploit the conditions that will be found in Ayr. The ball should swing around given that it is a day game, and bowling first will be a good option for Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan batting will depend on the likes of Mohammad Shahzad and S Shenwari, both of whom have been in good touch. In the ongoing game against Scotland, Shahzad hammered a hundred and a half century, whereas Shenwari smashed a century to lead the side to a comfortable position.

However, the advantage the side has is that they are not totally reliant on just the two of them. They have the advantage of having the likes of Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi, both of whom can tonk the ball and get the runs.

As compared to that, Scotland have had an up and down kind of an international tournament. What they need is consistency, but for now, they haven't had that going for them. On far too many occasions, the batting has let them down and that is something that the side will need to be wary of. Especially in conditions like the one at Ayr, where they are playing the four-day game. None of the Scottish batsmen got to beyond 20 in the first innings of that game, whereas in the second innings, they played marginally better with Ryan Flanningan and Ewan Chambers getting something more meaningful.

What will give Scotland some heart is that they had only recently beaten Afghanistan in a league game in the ICC WCL Division One game to enter the finals of the tournament. This was probably the first time after long that Afghanistan had lost to an opponent apart from Ireland and that is what should make life more comfortable for them.

Afghanistan will derive a lot from their experience of playing in this ODI in Scotland, given that the conditions are totally different from the ones back home.

Tag :- Afghanistan   Karim Sadiq   Mohammad Shahzad   Scotland