Pakistan have opted to bat first against Afghanistan in a match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, India on Monday.
Winning the toss Pakistani skipper Babar Azam said, “We will bat first. The pitch looks very dry and might spin. We have one change, unfortunately Nawaz has fever and Shadab is back. We will have to give our 100 percent in every match and step-up, that's what I want from my players. The pitch might help the pacers under lights.”
Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said, “We wanted to bat first, but the toss is not in your hand. One change for us - Noor Ahmad is in for Fazalhaq Farooqi. We played a series against them in Sri Lanka and we wanted more spinning options. We want to restrict them to 250 or less.”
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, Noor Ahmad.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
