Playing XI Prediction: England to Bring Back Plunkett for Rashid; Bangladesh Unchanged

Hosts England entered the ICC World Cup as overwhelming favourites but they were given rude awakening by Pakistan in their last game. Eoin Morgan might look to bolster his pace attack on a ‘green’ Cardiff track for their third game against Bangladesh on Saturday.

Liam Plunkett is set to return to the side after being replaced by Mark Wood for the last game. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid may miss out from playing XI.

England Predicted XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood

Bangladesh look fairly settled after impressive win over South Africa and a battling loss to New Zealand. Mosaddek Hossain’s returns of 26 and 11 haven’t been very impressive in the last two games but Sabbir Rahman looks unlikely to get a game just yet.

Bangladesh Predicted XI: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahman (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza and Mustafizur Rahman

Playing XI Prediction: Afghanistan to Replace Shahzad with Ikram Ali Khil; New Zealand Unchanged

Afghanistan suffered a big injury blow when dashing opener Mohammad Shahzad was ruled out of the entire ICC World Cup due to a knee injury. Shahzad has been replaced by young wicketkeeper batsman Ikram Ali Khil.

Shahzad scored a duck against Australia in the seven-wicket loss and seven in the 34-run loss (D/L method) to Sri Lanka in the second game. Ali Khil has played in just a couple of ODIs, making his debut against Ireland in March this year.

Afghanistan Predicted XI: Gulbadin Naib (C), Ikram Ali Khil (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Hamid Hassan and Mujeeb ur Rahman.

New Zealand are unlikely to tinker with their playing XI too much after winning both their opening games — first one by 10 wickets (over Sri Lanka) and second by two wickets (against Bangladesh). The Kiwis don’t have any injury concerns.

New Zealand Predicted XI: Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner and Ross Taylor.