Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the all-important toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup fixture at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on October 23 (Monday). Pakistan made one forced change in their playing XI as Mohammad Nawaz missed out with fever and Shadab Khan came back into the side. Afghanistan also made one change with left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad replacing Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Pakistan Playing XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad
Pakistan initiated their World Cup journey with victories over the Netherlands and a record-breaking chase against Sri Lanka. However, they faced a significant setback when they were defeated by arch-rivals India by seven wickets in a highly anticipated match in Ahmedabad on October 14. Following this defeat, Pakistan had a five-day break to regroup, but they were met with another challenge in a high-scoring contest against Australia in Bengaluru on October 20, where they fell short in their pursuit of a 368-run target.
During the match against Australia, Pakistan's openers, Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique, both scored fifties, but they were unable to convert them into substantial innings, and the form of captain Babar Azam came under scrutiny.
Afghanistan are currently stationed at the bottom of the points table with just one win in four matches played in the competition thus far.
Squads
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Agha Salman
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Rahman, Najibullah Zadran
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