Toss Afghanistan opt to bat vs New Zealand
Rashid was among Afghanistan’s three spinners along with Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi. There was no room for left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad, who has enjoyed success at Chepauk with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL.
Ziaur Rahman Sharifi, who replaced the injured Naveen-ul-Haq, and left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi were picked as the two frontline seamers. They will be assisted by seam-bowling allrounders Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib.
New Zealand’s No. 3, Rachin Ravindra, who can also pitch in with left-arm fingerspin, has recovered sufficiently from an illness to return to the XI. Michael Bracewell, who is nursing a calf injury, though, missed the cut. Finn Allen, New Zealand’s premier opener, recovered from a shoulder niggle, which had kept him out of the warm-up fixture against USA, to slot back in at the top along with Tim Seifert.
The Chepauk recently underwent a makeover with the entire outfield being dug up and relaid. Though the pitches were untouched – the venue has not hosted a competitive game since IPL 2025 in April – its conditions are an unknown quantity, with CSK also suggesting they have struggled to read the surfaces of late.
Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Darwish Rasooli, 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Gulbadin Naib, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Ziaur Rahman Sharifi
New Zealand: 1 Finn Allen, 2 Tim Seifert (wk), 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Mark Chapman, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt), 8 Jimmy Neesham, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Jacob Duffy
