England opt to bowl against Afghanistan

Online Desk

England have opted to bowl first against Afghanistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, India on Sunday.

Winning the toss English skipper Jos Buttler said, “We will bowl first. No particular reason, looks like a good wicket and we'll like to chase. We are going with an unchanged side. Looks like a good batting strip, South Africa and India posted big scores. I think we've improved a lot from the first to the second game, we just have to show the same intensity.”

Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said, “We wanted to bowl first, but this is a 100-over game, we'll have to bat well. Looks like a batting pitch, expecting the same conditions as the last game. Hopeful of doing well and putting pressure on them. We've good spin options and anything around 300 should be a good score. One change, Najib is not playing, Ikram replaces him.”

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

England (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley.

Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan