Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf Return; Afghanistan Ask Pakistan To Bowl In Tri-Series T20I

AFG won the toss and opted to bat first [Source: @ACBofficials/X]

Led by Rashid Khan, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the fourth T20I of the ongoing Tri-Nation series against Pakistan. The Men in Green have made two notable changes to their playing XI from the previous match, bringing Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi back into the team. 

Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf Make Comeback Vs Afghanistan

It's worth mentioning that Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf were rested in Pakistan's last game against the UAE. While Salman Mirza replaced Afridi, ace speedster Hasan Ali came into the side for Rauf. 

However, with both Hasan and Mirza having an off day, Pakistan considered bringing their first-choice seamers for this match. As a result, Shaheen replaced Mirza, with Rauf coming in for Hasan Ali, who registered an expensive spell in the previous game. 

AFG vs PAK: What Did The Captains Say?

At toss, Afghanistan's captain Rashid Khan said, 

"We’d like to bat first. In Sharjah, runs on the board are always valuable as it tends to get harder later. With three to four spinners in our side, it gives us a better chance to control the game. The dew factor also comes into play in the second innings, which makes things tougher. But at the end of the day, it’s all about playing good cricket, and that’s what we’re aiming for."

On the other hand, his Pakistani counterpart, Agha Salman, revealed that his side would've chased anyway, saying, 

"We actually wanted to chase today because there was quite a bit of dew yesterday. We saw it in the televised game, and even when we played against UAE the other day, there was a lot of dew. So, our plan was to chase today. We have two changes. Shaheen and Haris come back into the side, while Salman Mirza and Hasan Ali miss out."

AFG vs PAK: Playing XIs

Pakistan's Playing XI

Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (captain), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem

Afghanistan's Playing XI

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad

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