Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib has won the toss and has chosen batting against Afghanistan in the 36th group stage match of the ICC World Cup at Headingley on Saturday. While Hamid Hassan has replaced Dawlat Zadran in the playing eleven for Afghanistan, Pakistan has decided to play with an unchanged side in today's match.
Enigmatic Pakistan will hope to continue their resurgent run while keeping complacency at bay when they take on Afghanistan. Staring at a possible league stage elimination after three defeats and a washout, Pakistan staged a remarkable comeback with wins over South Africa and New Zealand to keep their hopes alive.
"We wanted to bat first but unfortunately toss is not in our hands. Our bowling line-up is bowling well so hopefully they'll restrict them. Our momentum is very high, but we're focusing on this match, not focusing too far. Wahab had a bit of an issue but he's fine and playing today. We're going with the same team," said Sarfaraz Ahmed.
A couple of losses for hosts England only brightened the 1992 winners' prospects of a semifinal berth. There were quite a few positives from the six-wicket victory over New Zealand, with Babar Azam's century and Shaheen Afridi's five-wicket haul being the most prominent ones.
The worry now is that after beating South Africa and then the unbeaten New Zealand, a feeling of complacency may creep in, but Pakistan cannot allow that to happen.
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If Pakistan beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh, chances of reaching the last four could increase. The inclusion of Harris Sohail at the expense of the miserably out-of-form Shoaib Malik has lent both stability and flair to Pakistan's batting. While left-arm pacer Afridi has added firepower to their bowling that is led by Mohammad Amir.
Afghanistan, who came close to causing the tournament's biggest upset against India, have won hearts with their spirited showings, but they would have wanted to do better. A win over a big cricketing nation like Pakistan would be a nice way to exit the big stage, and the likes of Rashid Khan and Gulbadin Naib are aware of that. "The wicket looks good, it's a sunny day. The wicket will help the spinners in the second innings. Pakistan is a good side, they've played plenty of good games. We beat them in the warm-up so we'll put our 100 per cent in this game. Hamid is back in the side, in place of Dawlat. We'll try to put a good total on the board, so that it's better for the spinners," Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib said after the toss.
Playing XIs:
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt and wk), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Shaheen Afridi
Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (capt), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rashid Khan, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman