New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan has elected to field first after winning the toss against United Arab Emirates in their crucial Group D game of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday.

The match will be played on the pitch used before for the Namibia-Netherlands clash held last week.

Afghanistan, the semi-finalists in 2024 edition, are winless in the competition after losing to New Zealand and South Africa. They have an 11-3 win-loss record against the UAE.

Even if Afghanistan win to keep their slim hopes of reaching Super Eights alive, New Zealand defeating Canada on Tuesday will consign them to an early exit.

After winning the toss, Rashid said fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi is out of the playing eleven, with Ziaur Rahman Sharifi taking his place. “Fresh wicket, early morning game so the wicket is going to be softer and it is going to be better to bat on in the afternoon.

“It is pretty hard but that’s something that’s gone and we learn from it. We played one of the best games of cricket. We have to make the nation proud again and play good cricket,” he said.

UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem said Muhammad Farooq and Mayank Kumar were replaced by Simranjeet Singh and Syed Haider in their playing eleven. “We wanted to bat first as well. Boys are confident but today is a different game, different opposition and we are ready for that. The ball may do a bit in the first few overs,” he said.

Playing XIs

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (captain), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, and Ziaur Rahman Sharifi

UAE: Aryansh Sharma (wk), Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Sohaib Khan, Syed Haider, Harshit Kaushik, Muhammad Arfan, Haider Ali, Simranjeet Singh, Junaid Siddique, and Muhammad Jawadullah

–IANS

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