Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first against India in their final Super Four match of the 2018 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday.
Former Indian Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is leading the team in today’s match. This will be MS Dhoni’s 200 One Day International (ODI) match as captain.
MS Dhoni – 200th ODI as Captain of #TeamIndia 😎#INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/4PWQNzVgiA
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 25, 2018
Afghanistan have made two changes in their team for today’s match. Najibullah and Javed Ahmadi come in place of Samiullah and Ihsanullah, while India has rested five players. KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Deepak Chahar, Siddharth Kaul and Khaleel Ahmed are playing in today’s match, while skipper Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneswar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah have been kept out.
All-rounder Deepak Chahar made his ODI debut in today’s match after receiving the cap from the Indian head coach Ravi Shastri. Chahar is the 223rd player to play for India.
Proud moment for @chahardeepak as he now becomes the 223rd player to represent #TeamIndia in ODIs 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/QqaAFf5rpV
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 25, 2018
After winning the toss, Afghanistan Skipper Asghar Afghan said they would bat first. “This pitch might help spinners, we’ll look to put runs on board to keep India under pressure. We have made two changes. Samiullah and Ihsanullah are not playing. Najibullah and Javed Ahmadi come in. We played good cricket in last two games but we lost them, it’s part of the game. Today we will look to play confidently,” he said.
On the other hand, Dhoni said they were looking forward to bowl first. “Quite a few changes. Both the openers are missing, Bhuvi, Bumrah and Chahal are also missing. Everybody who hadn’t played in this tournament gets a chance. They are part of the 15 and are representing India. We’ll have to keep the intensity up. It is important for them to adjust to the line and length they need to bowl. I was not really sure of where I am standing. I have captained 199 ODIs, so this gives me an opportunity to make it 200. It’s all destiny and I have always believed in that. It’s not in my control, once I left captainship. Good to complete 200, but I don’t think it really matters.”
Here’s our Playing XI for the game. Deepak Chahar makes his ODI debut for #TeamIndia.#INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/82vVKQB5PG
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 25, 2018
The Rohit Sharma-led Team India have already qualified for the finals after one-sided victories against Pakistan and Bangladesh. Team blue look in great form and more confident and they might have done everything right in the tournament and getting the good results so far.
On the other side, Afghanistan team are already out of the Asia Cup 2018 after losing back-to-back matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh. Though Afghanistan’s performance in the tournament was very impressive as they topped their group in the first stage of the tournament, the tournament ended on a bitter note for the Blue Tigers.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Shahzad(w), Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman