Afghanistan Wins Toss, Elects to Bat Against Scotland

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat in its opening Super 12 game against in-form Scotland at the T20 World Cup on Monday.

Scotland is on a high after upsetting Bangladesh in the qualifiers before beating Papua New Guinea and co-host Oman to advance.

Experienced Mohammad Nabi will lead Afghanistan, which has played just three T20s since March last year but he said victory against West Indies in a warm-up game was “really good”.

Nabi was named captain after Rashid Khan stepped down minutes after Afghanistan’s squad was announced, saying the selectors were not consulting him.

Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer said he was happy to bowl first.

Pakistan, which crushed arch-rival India by 10 wickets on Sunday, New Zealand and Namibia are the other teams in the group.

Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi (captain), Najibullah Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Scotland: Kyle Coetzer (captain), George Munsey, Calum MacLeod, Richie Berrington, Matthew Cross, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Safyaan Sharif, Brad Wheal

October 25, 2021