Afghanistan opt to bowl against Bangladesh

Southampton, June 24 (IANS) Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib on Monday won the toss and elected to field against Bangladesh in their World Cup tie at the Rose Bowl Cricket Stadium.

Both the teams have made two changes to their playing XI. While Afghanistan have included Dawlat Zadran and Samiullah Shenwari in place of Aftab Alam and Hazratullah Zazai, Bangladesh have brought in Mohammad Saifuddin and Mosaddek Hossain for Rubel Hossain and Sabbir Rahman.

"We want to bowl first. The conditions look good for bowling and we played a game here, so we know the pitch. In the second innings against India, it looked alright throughout and this looks similar. We want to restrict Bangladesh to a chaseable total. We had a good chance to beat India and we're confident that we can do better today. We have made two changes -- Dawlat and Shenwari come in for Alam and Zazai," said Naib after winning the toss.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said: "It's a used pitch, so want to put runs on the board. We have made two changes -- Saifuddin and Mosaddek in for Rubel and Sabbir. The pitch here has been different from the others, has been slow and spun a bit. It's a used pitch as I said and that's why we wanted to bat."

Playing XI: Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib(c), Samiullah Shinwari, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil(w), Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Bangladesh : Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Mustafizur Rahman