Afghanistan have opted to bowl first against New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, India on Wednesday.
Winning the toss Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said, “We want to bowl first, the reason is it might be dew factor in the second half. Discussion was there but we look at the opposition team and their strength also. We will look to restrict them to a low score. We had the celebration for that night but now it's gone. The confidence we can take into this game. We are going with the same team.”
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said, “Either way, wasn’t sure what to do. Looks like a good surface. Batting first will be good for us, and hopefully we can put up a big total on the board. Will Young comes in for Williamson, fingers crossed for the remainder of the tournament. Adapting to every ground, every team, and every surface is important. Not a hundred percent sure, it might be slightly better than the last game.”
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
