India captain Virat Kohli lost yet another toss as Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi opted to bowl first in the 33rd match of the T20 World Cup 2021 to be played at Abu Dhabi.
India are in a must-win situation as they have lost both the games so far in the tournament.
The Virat Kohli-led side lost the first two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively and that too by big margins which has dented their NRR.
As a result, the Men in Blue will be looking for a big win today against Afghanistan.
Nabi said the toss that they are bowling first due to the dew that comes during the second half of the innings. Kohli said that he would have bowled first as well. India have lost all tosses so far in this tournament.
Nabi said, “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.”
Kohli said that R Ashwin comes in for Varun Chakravarthy while Suryakumar Yadav also makes a comeback in India XI as he is fit to play.
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 as a team will look at the chance and try to play positive cricket. 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.”
Playing XI:
Afghanistan 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 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
