New Delhi, February 16 – Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan has opted to field first after winning the toss against the United Arab Emirates in their crucial Group D match of the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday.
The match will be played on the pitch used previously for the Namibia-Netherlands clash held last week.
Afghanistan, the semi-finalists in the 2024 edition, are winless in the competition after losing to New Zealand and South Africa. They have a 11-3 win-loss record against the UAE.
Even if Afghanistan win to keep their slim hopes of reaching the Super Eights alive, New Zealand's victory over Canada on Tuesday will effectively end their chances.
After winning the toss, Rashid said that fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi is out of the playing eleven, with Ziaur Rahman Sharifi taking his place. "The pitch is fresh, it's an early morning game, so the pitch will be softer and it will be better to bat in the afternoon. We need to play good cricket and make the nation proud again," he said.
UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem said that Muhammad Farooq and Mayank Kumar have been replaced by Simranjeet Singh and Syed Haider in their playing eleven. "We also wanted to bat first. The boys are confident, but this is a different game, a different opponent, and we are ready for that. The ball may behave differently in the first few overs," he said.
Playing XIs:
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (captain), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, and Ziaur Rahman Sharifi
UAE: Aryansh Sharma (wk), Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Sohaib Khan, Syed Haider, Harshit Kaushik, Muhammad Arfan, Haider Ali, Simranjeet Singh, Junaid Siddique, and Muhammad Jawadullah
