India vs Afghanistan Preview
India will face fellow Asian rivals Afghanistan in an all-important World Cup qualifier clash at home. The Blue Army recently played Afghanistan in an away-from-home fixture which resulted in a 0-0 draw. The draw pushed India into the second spot of their group A table with four points to their name in three matches played. Afghanistan are currently at the bottom of the Group A table with just one point to their tally in three matches played by them.
India have not managed to win even a single match out of the last five played by them. On the other hand, Afghanistan has managed to win two out of their last five matches played at the highest level. Having said that India is still considered as the favourites when they will turn up to host the Afghans at home on March 26.
Team India would be hurting after not being able to register a win against Afghanistan in the reverse fixture. The team failed to score a single goal and looked quite spineless in terms of going forward on the pitch. Though the defensive line held affirm and didn’t allow Afghanistan a foot into the game, the overall performance just doesn’t serve India’s purpose in terms of going ahead in the qualifiers.
It remains to be seen if the Blue Tigers will approach the home fixture against Afghans with more zest and zeal, and give their all in the hope of registering a win this time around.
India vs Afghanistan Team News
India
From the Indian squad, Sahal Abdul Samad will likely miss the clash against Afghanistan due to injury concerns. As per reports he suffers from a hamstring blow. India’s prominent defender Sandesh Jhinghan is also set to miss the fixture against the Afghans.
Afghanistan
As far as Afghanistan is considered it is termed that the visitors will still miss the service of the majority of their prominent first-team players. It is because of their ongoing protest against the country’s football federation.
India vs Afghanistan Predicted Lineups
India
Predicted XI: Sandhu, Poojary, Bheke, Anwar, Apuia, Mishra, Chaangte, Jaekson, Mahesh, Sunil Chhetri, Mehtab
Afghanistan
Predicted XI: Nzary, Azizi, Hanifi, Askar, Amiri, Skandari, Popalzay, Asekzai, Sharifi, Azadzoy, Arezou
India vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head Record
In the last four matches between India and Afghanistan, the Indian team holds an edge over the Afghans as they have managed to win one out of those games, while the rest of the three matches have been drawn.
Last 4 Games
- Afghanistan 0-0 India (03/2024)
- Afghanistan 1-2 India (06/2022)
- India 1-1 Afghanistan (06/2021)
- Afghanistan 1-1 India (11/2019)
India vs Afghanistan Prediction
The home advantage might work in the favour of India as they look to boost their hopes of securing an important three points by beating Afghanistan in this crucial World Cup Qualifying fixture.
Prediction: India 2-1 Afghanistan.
India vs Afghanistan Betting Tips and Odds
India vs Afghanistan has often been a moderate scoring affair with an average of about 1.75 goals scored in the last four encounters between these two teams and the highest overall combined goals scored in a single match counts to three. Although there are no official betting tips and odds released as of now for the particular match, here we will look at the probable permutations.
Tips:
- Both Teams to Score – Yes
- Match Total – Over 1.0 goals
- Match Result: India
Match odds:
- India Win – Yes
- Draw- Not Likely
- Afghanistan Win: Not Likely
India vs Afghanistan Timings and Telecast
- Date and Time: Wednesday, March 26 at 01:30 PM (GMT).
- India: FanCode, DD Sports TV Channel
- Afghanistan: FIFA Website
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