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India take on Afghanistan as Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first in their T20 World Cup Super 8 clash at the Kensington Oval Barbados on June 20, Thursday. Rohit made a big change in India's playing XI for the crucial encounter as he dropped Mohammad Siraj to fit in Kuldeep Yadav in Men in Blue's fold. On the other hand, Rashid Khan introduced Hazratullah Zazai in Afghanistan's final XI in place of Janat.
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What did the captains say?
After winning the toss India skipper Rohit Sharma said:
“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.”
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Meanwhile, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan, after the toss, said:
“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.”
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India's 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's Playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Pitch Report
“Lovely weather conditions. 58m, 67m square boundaries, 70m down the ground. It looks a really good pitch with a few cracks on it. The ball should come on to the bat nicely and the bowlers need to bowl in the right areas. Batters should prosper on this wicket. A bat first pitch,” reckons Sunil Gavaskar.
Head-to-Head
If we look at the India versus Afghanistan's track record against each other in the T20 World Cups, Rohit Sharma's men have an edge over Rashid's brigade. The two teams have clashed three times with each other in T20 World Cups so far, with India emerging victorious in all encounters. Their most recent matchup in this marquee tournament took place during the 2021 edition in Dubai.
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