Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in their World Cup game at Headingley in Leeds on Saturday.
Afghanistan were 83 for 3 after 17 overs.
Afghanistan have made one change to their playing XI. They have included fast bowler Hamid Hassan in place of Dawlat Zadran. On the other hand, Pakistan have gone with the same team that featured in their victory over New Zealand.
“We are gonna bat first, the wicket looks good. It’s a sunny day and the weather is warm, it’ll help spinners in the second innings. Pakistan is a good side but we have defeated them in the warm-up game. We’ll try to give our 100 per cent today. We are looking forward to putting a good show. Hamid is back in the side in place of Dawlat Zadran,” said Naib after winning the toss.
“We wanted to bat first as well but toss is not in our hands. Our bowlers are doing well, so we’ll try to restrict them and chase the target. We are focusing on this match, not focusing on the next game. Wahab is fine, he’s playing today, hence we are playing with the same team,” said Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.
With 7 points from as many games, Pakistan are still in the contention of making it to the semi-finals. The Green Brigade need to win all their remaining matches and hope for favourable outcome to reach the knockout round.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, have lost all their 7 matches played so far and are still longing for their first victory of the tournament.
Here are the Playing XIs of both the teams:
Playing XIs: Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (captain), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shinwari, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil (wicketkeeper), Rashid Khan, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper/captain), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi