Dhaka- New Zealand won the toss and sent Afghanistan to bat first in the 13th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton on Saturday.
Kiwi Captain Kane Williamson said, “We are going to have a bowl. A fresh wicket and looks a good one. It is nice to have a couple of wins in front of us. But we have to adapt to the new ground and new surface. It was tough but it was nice to get across the line.”
On the other hand, Afghan Captain Gulbadin Naib said, “Honestly I would have batted first. It looks like a good wicket. The surface won’t matter much, we have to play positive cricket at the end of the day.”
Afghanistan made three changes to their squad that played against Sri Lanka in the last match.
Dawlat Zadran was replaced by Aftab Alam while Mujeeb Ur Rahman by his uncle Noor Ali Zadran and Ikram Ali Khil has been included as the wicketkeeper in place of Mohammad Shahzad.
However, New Zealand are fielding the same team that played against Bangladesh.
New Zealand Playing XI: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham(w), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Afghanistan Playing XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib (c), Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan.UNB
