Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and decided to bowl first against Afghanistan on Sunday (June 23) in a critical Super Eights, Group 1 clash of ICC T20 World Cup 2024, being played at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent, West Indies. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard)
Explaining why he chose to field, Marsh said: "We'll try and have a read on conditions and have a good night."
He added: "We know Afghanistan are a good side. We just need to trust our process and enjoy it. Ashton Agar comes in for Mitchell Starc, purely conditions based."
His opposing number Rashid Khan said: "To be honest we wanted to bat first. The record of this wicket suggests it becomes harder while chasing, we got what we wanted."
He added: "What is done is done, can't think about the past. It's about the mindset we go in with today, the more you enjoy the better you perform. We've spoken about our execution and getting it right. It's about playing our cricket. Everyone likes to play against big teams, it's when you get better."
Playing XIs
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat (In for Hazratullah Zazai), Nangeyalia Kharote (In for Najibullah Zadran), Rashid Khan (C), Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh (C), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (WK), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar (In for Mitchell Starc), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
Australia are unbeaten in the tournament thus far and have notched up five back-to-back wins, while Afghanistan lost to India in their Super 8s opener and another defeat today will knock them out of the competition.
This is the first time the two teams are meeting after their extraordinary clash at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where Glenn Maxwell conjured a miraculous unbeaten double hundred.
Afghanistan will next face Bangladesh in Kingstown on June 25, while Australia will meet arch-rivals India in St Lucia on June 24.
