Afghanistan opt to bat against New Zealand in key T20 World Cup clash

New Zealand lost the toss against Afghanistan and will field in their must-win final group game at the T20 World Cup on Sunday.

New Zealand will seal the last semi-finals spot without going into the complexities of net run-rates if they beat Afghanistan.

“It’s a day game, so we want to post a decent total on the board,” said Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi.

With a billion Indians praying for an Afghanistan victory, Nabi insisted his side will “try to win” the match for themselves.

New Zealand are unchanged from their previous victory that was their third in a row after their opening loss to Pakistan.

“We were going to have a bat as well, it’s a used surface,” captain Kane Williamson said at the toss.

“I think both sides have match winners and it’s a mix of youth and experience.”

Pakistan has already qualified for the semis from Group 2 while England and Australia are through to the last four from Group 1.

If Afghanistan wins against the Black Caps, India will be a strong contender to qualify for the semi-finals because it will face unheralded Namibia in its last group game on Monday.

Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeebur Rahman returned to the side to beef up the attack after missing the last two games due to injury. He replaces Sharafuddin Ahmed.

New Zealand, playing their first group game at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium, made no change to the side that beat Namibia by 52 runs.

Afghanistan will be playing their third game at the venue. They lost to India by 66 runs in their last game but defeated Namibia by 62 runs.

Teams

Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (captain), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeebur Rahman, Naveenul Haq, Hamid Hassan

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (captain), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult