TossAfghanistan chose to bat vs Pakistan
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat in the second T20I against Pakistan in Hambantota on Thursday. Pakistan lead the three-match series 1-0 after a crushing 142-run win in the opener on Tuesday.
Afghanistan made two changes to the XI that played in the first match with Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Omarzai, who retired hurt due to a side strain in the first ODI, out. Riaz Hassan and Shahidullah replaced them. Hassan, who has played only three ODIs and has scored a fifty, was coming back into the XI after one and a half years. Left-arm spinner Shahidullah has played only one ODI and that was in January 2022.
Pakistan are unchanged from the first match.
Having been bowled out for a mere 59 in chase of 202, Afghanistan need to step up their batting to stay relevant in the series.
Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Riaz Hassan, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), , 5 Ikram Alikhil, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Shahidullah, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 11 Abdul Rahman
Pakistan: 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Agha Salman, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Usama Mir, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Naseem Shah, 11 Haris Rauf