Men's ODI WC: Maxwell back for Australia as Afghanistan win toss, elect to bat

Mumbai: Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in a crucial preliminary league match of the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.

It is an important match for both teams. By winning it, Australia will move to 12 points and confirm their place in the semifinals, joining India (16) and South Africa (14) as the third team in the knockout round. Victory will take Afghanistan to 10 points and with one more match against the Netherlands to go, they will be in a good position to make a maiden entry in the knockout rounds.

Afghanistan made one change in the Playing XI bringing in Naveen-ul-Haq for Fazalhaq Farooqi.

"We will hope the wicket will spin and seam in the second innings. We're chasing well, but you have to look at the opposition and ground also," Shahidi said at the toss.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins said he was fine with batting second. The five-time champion made two changes in their playing XI, bringing in Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell in place of Smith Smith and Cameron Green.

"(Losing the toss) doesn't affect our plans too much. It's fine. Happy with how we've gone - five in a row. Long may it continue. Smith was struggling a bit [in the lead-up to the game] and missed out. Green misses out too. Mitch Marsh and Maxwell are back. We have plenty of bowling options. We will be fine," Cummins said.

Playing XIs:

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad.

Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.