Abu Dhabi: Afghanistan won the toss on Wednesday and opted to field against India here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in the 33rd match of the ICC T20 World Cup.
India's run has been derailed after two crushing defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand and the performance that they have put in is not worthy of a semi-final spot even though mathematics keeps their hopes alive.
Afghanistan have expectedly won their two games against Scotland and Namibia and were in the contest against Pakistan for the better part before Asif Ali took the game away with four sixes in one over.
At the toss, Indian captain Virat Kohli said, "Firstly there's no denying the fact that the situation is a tricky one. Having said that there's still a chance. We know we haven't played up to potential whatever the reasons might be - need to brush that aside. Would have bowled first. But it's not a bad thing against a side like Afghanistan who look to put up runs on the board. Couple of changes - Surya is back as he's fit. Ashwin replaces Varun who has a bit of a niggle."
On the other hand, Afghanistan skipper Mohammed Nabi said,"Will bowl first. Last game there was a lot of dew in the second half. Mujeeb isn't playing. We always prepare for both, but today we'll bowl first because of dew. We'll play normal cricket and go and enjoy."
Teams:
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.
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.
