After defeating Australia in their first match of the Cricket World Cup 2023, India made a significant change in their playing XI for the second match. Ravichandran Ashwin was replaced by Shardul Thakur in the team. Sunil Gavaskar expressed his frustration at seeing Ashwin being sacrificed once again. Gavaskar couldn’t comprehend why Ashwin was not given a chance and also highlighted the absence of Mohammed Shami from the playing XI. Gavaskar recalled Shami’s hat-trick against Afghanistan in 2019 and believed he deserved a spot in the team. India lost the toss and Afghanistan elected to field first. Rohit Sharma, the captain of the Indian team, mentioned that they preferred batting second due to the dew factor. He expressed the need to bowl well and improve their batting performance. Besides the change of Ashwin for Shardul, India maintained the same lineup. The article also provided the playing XI for both Afghanistan and India teams.
Sat. Oct 12th, 2024
