The whole of Afghanistan and India will be delighted with the return of Mujeeb Ur Rahman for the key clash against New Zealand in UAE. Mujeeb missed the last game against India due to injury and his absence could have made things a lot easier for the Blackcaps to knock both Afghanistan and India out of the tournament.
Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi won the toss and they went back to the idea of batting first after winning the coin battle. The Afghans will be looking forward to put runs on the board and then will look to unleash their spin bowling attack on New Zealand batting group, which is not known for batting ability against spin.
Afghanistan have employed a high-risk high reward strategy with the bat and have backed their batsmen to go against the bowling. They will be relying on the top three batsmen Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad and Rahmanullah Gurbaj to provide them with a rapid start.
On the other hand, New Zealand are fielding an unchanged playing XI from the last game. They have dropped wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert to accommodate an extra bowler and the move is paying off well with Devon Conway donning the gloves behind the stumps.