Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in their Super 12 match of the ICC men's T20 World Cup at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
India's journey in this World Cup has so far been disappointing as the team lost to both Pakistan and New Zealand in their first couple of matches after having been asked to bat first in both instances.
This match promises to be an interesting one as the Indians have to go ballistic and win big against Afghanistan to be able to do their part in keeping their semifinal chances alive and Afghanistan is not really a minnow to bow down easily.
The Afghan cricketers who have plied their cricket in various leagues across the world decisively won two matches and have gone down fighting hard against Pakistan. Afghan spinners have been effective in tying down the oppositions' scoring rate and given the Indian top order's troubles with playing spin, the contest is going to be rather entertaining.
India made two changes to its playing 11 while Afghanistan goes into the game with a single change. For India, Suryakumar Yadav, who had to sit the previous game out, comes in place of Ishan Kishan and Ravichandran Ashwin replaces Varun Chakravarthy. Afghanistan chose Sharafuddin Ashraf to fill the place left by former captain Asghar Afghan who played his last international game against Namibia.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad(w), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Hamid Hassan