India are up against Afghanistan in the first game of the Super 8. India won the toss and opted to bowl. When Rohit Sharma announced the playing XI, ace pacer Mohammed Siraj’s name was missing from the team. Siraj was dropped from the playing XI to accommodate spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
India qualified for the Super8 after a magnificent run in the group stage. The team defeated Ireland in the first game before beating Pakistan. India then defeated the USA to qualify for the Super 8s. The team’s last game against Canada was washed out due to rain.
Rohit Sharma opened up on his decision to bat first and said that the wicket could get slower in the second innings.
“We are going to bat first. Looks alright at this moment, looks a good track. No grass on the pitch, I guess it will get slower. It’s better than New York. We have to adapt to the conditions quickly. We have been here for a couple of days, we have played a lot of cricket. It’s about understanding what we need to do in conditions like these. It’s an early start. Usually start in the evening elsewhere. We enjoy playing here. We have made one change, Kuldeep comes in for Siraj,” said Rohit Sharma.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said that his team too wanted to bat first.
“We would have liked to bat first. It’s more about how you play the game in T20s. Happy with our preparations and how things have gone. We are facing good teams, need to control our emotions and play our natural game. It does help getting used to the conditions. We have to play good cricket. We have one change, Karim Janat is not playing, Zazai comes in,” said Rashid Khan.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
