NEW DELHI: Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran won the toss and opted to field against India in the third and final T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday.India, who won the first two T20Is, are leading the three-match series 2-0 and will aim for a clean sweep.
Yash Thakur replaces Arshdeep Singh
India captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed one change to the playing XI. Yash Thakur came into the team in place of Arshdeep Singh.Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was not included in the playing XI.Iyer said India would have preferred to bat first but welcomed the challenge of bowling first.“We would have batted first. It also gives us a fun challenge. It’s important that we stick to the moment and not complicate things. One change – Yash comes in for Arsh.”
Afghanistan aim to finish series with a win
Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said his team wanted to bowl first in the previous two matches as well but lost the toss on both occasions.“We are going to bowl first. We wanted to bowl first in the last two games as well, but unfortunately, we lost the toss. If you look at the wicket, it’s quite supportive for the bowlers, and I’m sure we will execute our plans well in the bowling department. We will try to put pressure on them and not allow them to put a big score on the board.”Asked about Afghanistan’s mindset after losing the series, Zadran said the team wants to improve and finish the series with a win.“We have lost the series, but we thought about the areas we need to work on and what we haven’t done well in the last two games. We will try to play better cricket and win a game against them to finish well. And yes, India are one of the best teams. They have, I would say, all the departments covered in T20 cricket, but we always try to make things easy for ourselves and not complicate them. We just try to give 100% and play better cricket against them.”India playing XISanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah.Afghanistan playing XIIbrahim Zadran(c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sediqullah Atal, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Darwish Rasooli, Noor ul Rahman, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
