Cricket News / Afghanistan Win Toss, Elect to Bowl First in 3rd T20I; India Bring in Yash Thakur for Arshdeep Singh

New Delhi, Sep 17: Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the third and final T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. India have already secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, with victory in the final match giving them a 3-0 clean sweep.

Afghanistan have made two changes to their playing XI, leaving out wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad and seam-bowling all-rounder Gulbadin Naib. Right-arm medium pacer Abdullah Ahmadzai and wicketkeeper-batter Noor Rahman, who is making his T20I debut, have been brought into the side.

“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," Zadran said after winning the toss.

Asked about the team’s mindset after the series defeat, Zadran said, “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.

“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 percent and play better cricket against them.”

India have brought in right-arm pacer Yash Thakur to replace left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh. It also means no game time for teenage left-arm opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and off-spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar.

“We would have definitely batted first as well. I interacted with him. I knew what he would do. Yes, absolutely, and it also gives us a fun challenge to bat here to the best of our abilities. Also, we spoke about this at the end of the last match, that they ease nicely into this role.

India captain Shreyas Iyer stressed the need for the team to avoid complacency and remain focused on the task at hand ahead of the third T20I against Afghanistan.

Also Read: India Seal Series 2-0 as Afghanistan Fail to Escape Their 1st T20I Trap

“See, there is no room for complacency. It's important that we stick to the moment and see to it that we are basically backing our instincts and not complicating things. Obviously, we are batting first. That doesn't mean that we are going to go completely berserk. We need to adapt. We need to see to it that we are getting acclimatised to the situation as well. So, good challenge, looking forward to it,” Iyer said.

Playing XIs
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Darwish Rasooli, Noor Rahman, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Fazalhaq Farooqi

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, and Jasprit Bumrah

(IANS)