The first stage of T20 World Cup 2024 is over and now the focus is on Super-8. All the 8 teams of this round have also been decided. The Indian team, which finished first in its group, has been placed in Group-1 of Super-8. Here it is accompanied by Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Now to make it to the semi-finals, Team India will have to play 1-1 matches against these three teams. Looking at the group, one might think that Team India will get a challenge only from Australia and still reach the semi-finals, but this thinking is wrong because Afghanistan can pose a bigger challenge for Team India than Australia.

In the Super-8 round, Team India will face Afghanistan in its very first match. This match will be played on 20 June in Bridgetown, Barbados. Before this match, Afghanistan will play its last match of the group stage against West Indies on Tuesday 18 June, while Team India will take the field after about 8 days. India's last match was against Canada, which was washed out due to rain and before that the team played a match against America. Such a long gap can affect the performance but apart from this, Team India will face 3 big challenges.

Superb spin attack

Super-8 matches are to be played in West Indies, so it is already believed that the effect of spinners will be seen. Team India has a good spin attack but Afghanistan's spin attack has more variety, where there are off-spin, leg-spinner and left-arm wrist-spinner. Captain Rashid Khan himself has taken 6 wickets in 3 matches, while Noor Ahmed, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman have given good support. They can prove to be a problem for Team India.

Afghanistan familiar with the conditions

A big challenge will be the conditions. Afghanistan has played all its group stage matches in Caribbean venues. Although they also did not play any match in Bridgetown, there is not much difference in the weather and conditions of the cities where they played the matches and Bridgetown. Whereas Team India played all the matches in New York and the temperature there has been 6-7 degrees lower. Also, the pitch in New York was helpful for fast bowlers and in such a situation it will not be easy to suddenly adapt to a spin friendly pitch.

Rohit-Virat escape from Farooqui

The last challenge - Fazalhaq Farooqui and company. Afghanistan's spinners are amazing but this time their pace attack has shown its prowess. Especially left-arm fast bowler Farooqui, who devastated New Zealand by taking 4 wickets with the new ball. Apart from this, he also wreaked havoc on Uganda and PNG. Overall, Farooqui is at the top with 12 wickets in 3 matches. Also remember that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli look troubled against left-arm pacers, especially in the powerplay. Not only this, pacers like Naveen Ul Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai have also supported Farooqui well. Overall, Afghanistan has an all-round bowling attack.