T20 World Cup 2021: Afghanistan opts to field against India; Ravichandran Ashwin included

Former champion India goes head-on against Afghanistan in the Group 2 Super 12 clash of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Indian skipper Virat Kohli's bad luck with the toss continued, as Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi made the right call to win it and opted to bowl.

LIVE SCORECARD: ICC T20 World Cup 2021, India vs Afghanistan (Super 12)

Speaking at the toss, Nabi mentioned the dew factor at night, compelling every side to bowl first, while the trend has seen the chasing side win on most occasions. As for the Afghan team, Nabi made just a change by keeping out spinner Mijeeb-ur-Rahman.

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On the other hand, Kohli noted that the situation is highly tricky for his side, besides backing the chances of qualification. He reckoned that the team is looking to play some positive cricket and brush aside the negative performances that it has produced so far. However, he said the team would love to bat first against the Afghans and pile runs on the board. He brought in veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin for Varun Chakravarthy, as the latter had a niggle, besides bringing in Suryakumar Yadav as well.

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Playing XI
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad(w), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq and Hamid Hassan.