LIVE | CWC 2023: India v Afghanistan

Afghanistan opt to bat against India in World Cup

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first against India on Wednesday in their bid to bounce back from their opening loss in the World Cup.

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The Afghans are looking to their batsmen at New Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium which witnessed a World Cup record 754 runs scored in the previous match when South Africa posted 428 and defeated Sri Lanka.

Afghanistan, who boast a world class spin attack including Rashid Khan, come in unchanged from their defeat to Bangladesh when they were bowled out for 156 at Dharamsala.

"It looks like a good surface, we want to bounce back with the bat," Shahidi said at the toss. "It's a good chance to showcase our talent."

Hosts and tournament favourites India, led by Rohit Sharma, began with a six-wicket win over five-time-winners Australia in Chennai and have made one change to their team.

Fast bowler Shardul Thakur makes the team in place of veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Rohit said his team would have anyways fielded first had he won the toss as "they noticed (evening) dew while training".

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wkt), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG), Paul Reiffel (AUS)

TV Umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

- AFP