Sarfaraz Ahmed: We wanted to bat first but unfortunately toss is not in our hands. Our bowling line-up is bowling well so hopefully, they’ll restrict them. Our momentum is very high, but we’re focusing on this match, not focusing too far. Wahab had a bit of an issue but he’s fine and playing today. We’re going with the same team.
Gulbadin Naib: The wicket looks good, it’s a sunny day. The wicket will help the spinners in the second innings. Pakistan is a good side, they’ve played plenty of good games. We beat them in the warm-up so we’ll put our 100 percent in this game. Hamid is back in the side, in place of Dawlat. We’ll try to put a good total on the board so that it’s better for the spinners.
Watch Afg v Pak cricket highlights videos today – 36th match, ICC Cricket World Cup from Headingley, Leeds (England) Saturday, 29-6-2019.
Pakistan v Afghanistan Icc Cricket World Cup 2019 Highlights
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Points Table
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat.
Pakistan team : 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Shaheen Afridi.
Afghanistan team: 1 Gulbadin Naib (capt), 2 Rahmat Shah, 3 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 4 Asghar Afghan, 5 Samiullah Shinwari, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Najibullah Zadran, 8 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Hamid Hassan, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
It’s expected to be the hottest day of the year, with the temperature exceeding 30 C. The pitch is expected to be slow, but recent games here have had fast bowlers achieve success, which should play into Pakistan’s hands. Pakistan wouldn’t want to break up their winning combination, so an unchanged team is expected.
Afghanistan have tried almost every possible combination, with 16 players used. One change here and there in the batting or bowling hasn’t made a significant difference; they dropped Aftab Alam to recall Dawat Zardan in the last game against Bangladesh, but the bowler conceded 64 in nine overs for one wicket. Samiullah Shinwari in place of Hazratullah Zazai made a difference, as the batsman scored a useful 49 at No. 6 to offer much-needed resistance. They are most likely to take on Pakistan unchanged from their previous outing in Southampton.
Match Timings: 10.30 start, First Session 10.30-14.00 Interval 14.00-14.30, Second Session 14.30-18.00
Umpires – Nigel Llong, Paul Wilson
TV Umpires – Chris Gaffaney
Match Referee – Chris Broad
Reserve Umpire – Ian Gould
Match number – ODI no. 4177
