Cricket World Cup 2023: Afghanistan wins toss, bats first against India

Afghanistan won the toss Wednesday and opted to bat first against hosts India in their second match of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

This comes after India beat Australia by six wickets in a low-scoring thriller at Chennai last week and Afghanistan lost its opening game to Bangladesh by six wickets in Dharamsala.

On why he opted to bat first, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan’s captain, expressed his confidence in the pitch, saying it was favorable for batting. He said he aimed to set a challenging target for India.

India has made one change to its line-up, with bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur replacing off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Afghanistan has retained the same line-up from Dharamsala and is determined to up their game, but will be wary of left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who is coming off a haul of 3-28 against Australia.

The Arun Jaitley Stadium has proven to be the most batsmen-friendly surface in the tournament. South Africa posted a World Cup record total of 428-5 on Saturday and Sri Lanka replied with 326 runs – a total of 754 runs in 94.5 overs.

Tune in to Ariana Television to watch the match live.

Yes, that’s right. Ariana Television Network has secured the rights to broadcast matches live and fans in Afghanistan can tune in daily to watch the matches or stream the games live.