This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

Naib replaces the injured Zazai for Afghanistan, and Madushan replaces Karunaratne for Sri Lanka. Both teams made a change during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first at the Gabba, a place that typically favors teams looking to put up big totals. Both teams must win this game in order to advance to the semi-finals, so there is no room for error. It is anticipated that the playing surface will be a typical Gabba pitch with lots of bounce and carry for the quicks.

Afghanistan had to make one change because Hazratullah Zazai’s abdominal ailment forced him out of the competition. Gulbadin Naib took Zazai’s position in the squad and entered the starting lineup right away. Usman Ghani might move to the top to open the batting with Rahmanullah Gurbaz if Naib is expected to bat in the middle order.

Furthermore, Sri Lanka has made one adjustment, replacing seam-bowling all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne with specialist Pramod Madushan to bolster their seam assault. To make up for this, Wanindu Hasaranga bats at No. 7 and is the last player with a history of scoring significant runs, even if intermittently.

The outfield may still be damp from earlier in the day’s rainfall, making it difficult for bowlers to grip the ball, especially in the first innings. Although there is a slight possibility that rain would again delay play, the sky was clear at the coin toss.

Previously

Both players had critically ill campaigns going into this match. Sri Lanka has recently suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Australia and New Zealand. After earlier being brushed aside by England, Afghanistan has had two matches called off due to weather. The losers here will be eliminated from semi-final contention, but there also appears to be a possibility that this game will be another washout, which doesn’t exactly ruin both teams’ hopes for semi-final contention, but may, depending on other outcomes (an especially cruel fate for Afghanistan, who have only lost one match so far).

While, Afghanistan’s own batting against England, who bowled them for 112, did not quite get going. But because Sri Lanka’s pace attack is weak and Wanindu Hasaranga hasn’t been playing at his most lethal level lately, Afghanistan will be hoping for a stronger performance in Brisbane.

Afghanistan

1 Usman Ghani, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Najibullah Zadran, 5 Gulbadin Naib, 6 Mohammad Nabi (capt), 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Fareed Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Sri Lanka

1 Kusal Mendis (wk), 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Pramod Madushan, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Lahiru Kumara