World Cup 2019, Match 4 - Afghanistan vs Australia - Toss Report

Defending champions Australia will start their World Cup campaign by taking on Afghanistan in the fourth match of the tournament. Australia are riding high on confidence after winning their last 8 ODIs, three against India and five against Pakistan. The five-time world champions have also won both their warm-up games against England and Sri Lanka in addition to beating New Zealand and West Indies in practise games.

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Afghanistan's opening #CWC19 match is just over an hour away.

Fans back home have been creative in playing a game of cricket themselves! #AfghanAtalan pic.twitter.com/sGD81jFEtd

— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 1, 2019

Unsurprisingly, Australia will start the game as favourites. However, they should guard against complacency against a side which has the likes of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Afghanistan also beat Pakistan in their warm-up game and will take confidence from that.

Toss Report:

Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first against Australia in the fourth match of the World Cup 2019.

Here is what the captains said:

Finch:

“I would have batted first as well, looks a good wicket to put runs on the board. Not that hard on top and hopefully, we can get some movement early on. (On Khawaja over Marsh) Usman’s form over the last 14-15 games was too good to ignore. Really tough call but we had to make it. Lyon, Richardson and Behrendorff are the others missing out.”

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Naib:

“We are gonna bat first. Looks a good wicket, flat as well and we have three spinners. Hence, we’re batting first and hoping to put a good score on the board. Yes, they are a champion side and we need to start well against them. Everyone knows about the spinners of Afghanistan, all of them are experience and skilled – Nabi, Mujeeb and Rashid.”

Teams:

Australia (Playing XI):

Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey(w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

Afghanistan (Playing XI):

Mohammad Shahzad(w), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib(c), Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan