Afghanistan win the toss and elect to bowl first against Sri Lanka

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and opted to bowl in their clash with Sri Lanka in Pune at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.

Match 30: Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sri Lanka

After winning the toss, Hashmatullah Shahidi elected to bowl first. He believed that dew might be a factor in play in the evening, hence, the best time to bowl was now. His opposite number Kusal Mendis, however, believed that they would've batted irrespective.

Fazalhaq Farooqi returned to the setup in the place of young left-arm unorthodox spinner Noor Ahmad. For Sri Lanka, Dusmantha Chameera came in along with Dimuth Karunaratne. The latter came in place of Kusal Perera.

The luckless Sri Lanka have had to replace Lahiru Kumara after the in-form pacer became the latest in their squad to be sidelined through injury. Chameera made it back into the squad as his replacement.

Afghanistan and Sri Lanka meet with both teams aiming to stay in touch with the four pacesetters at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.

The winner of this crunch clash will move to within one win of the top four spots that will ultimately secure a place in the knockout stage of the tournament, while the loser will be all but out of the race for a semi-final berth.

Both sides will be riding a wave of momentum into this contest following giant-killing triumphs after Afghanistan shocked Pakistan and Sri Lanka beat defending champions England for the second of back-to-back wins that have revived their campaign.

This is the fifth ODI that Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have played against each other in as many months, with the 1996 champions winning the past three head-to-head encounters in the format.

Squads

• Afghanistan squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
• Sri Lanka squad: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (c) (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka.