World Cup 2023 | No Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali As ENG To Bowl First Vs AFG In Delhi

Buttler & Shahidi will lead will respective teams (x.com)

At Arun Jaitley Stadium, England have won the toss first against Afghanistan on Sunday. Interestingly, the Jos Buttler-led side has kept their winning combination the same, as Ben Stokes will still be unavailable for the third straight game. Meanwhile, the Afghan team have replaced Ikram Ali Khil with Najibullah Zadran.

The England versus Afghanistan fixture will be the third match played at a newly-tinted Delhi arena. Meanwhile, in the first game played at this stadium in this World Cup, South Africa slammed a record-breaking mammoth total against Sri Lanka in the first innings before the Asian side tried their hand in the chase. In the end, the game saw over 750 runs being scored.

The Asian side - who depend heavily on their spinners - would look to post a 300+ total batting first, as mentioned by captain Hashmatullah Shahidi at the toss. However, batting against the likes of Mark Wood, Reece Topley, and Chris Woakes won't be a walk in the garden.

On the other side, England have fielded a pace-heavy lineup, with Moeen Ali again missing the cut. 

ENG vs AFG: Playing XIs

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen ul Haq

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley

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Here's what the captains said at the toss

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan Captain): "To be honest, we also wanted to bowl first. Now it's a 100-over game, we need to play well throughout. It looks like a batting pitch. The last game as well, it was helping batting very much. We will try to bat well and put pressure on them. 

Jos Buttler (England Captain): "We are going to bowl first. No particular reason. The wicket looks better and we will look to chase it. We are unchanged. The wicket looks good one to bat on. South Africa posted a big total here and India also scored quickly. So we are looking to chase whatever they post here. We have improved a lot from the first game to the second game. We want to keep improving and keep the same intensity while going forward."