World Cup 2023: Pakistan bring back Shadab Khan, Afghanistan play four spinners in Chennai

World Cup 2023: Pakistan have brought in Shadab Khan in place of Mohammad Nawaz, while Afghanistan opted to play four spinners at the Chepauk.

Shadab Khan is back in the Pakistan playing XI for the World Cup 2023 match against Afghanistan on Monday, October 23 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The leg-spinning all-rounder missed the match against Pat Cummins’ Australia as the Men in Green decided to give a chance to Usama Mir.

Shadab faced a lot of criticism after Pakistan’s seven-wicket loss to Rohit Sharma’s India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Shadab replaced Mohammad Nawaz in the playing XI against the Afghans. Babar Azam, during the toss, said that Nawaz missed out due to having a fever.

Afghanistan, in the meantime, brought in left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad in place of Fazalhaq Farooqi given the playing conditions in Chennai. It means that the Afghans went in with four spinners, Noor, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi, for the match against Pakistan.

Naveen-ul-Haq happens to be the only specialist fast bowler in the Afghanistan playing XI. Pakistan, on the other hand, stuck to their pace trio of Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.

Pakistan have never lost to Afghanistan in their seven meetings thus far. In the World Cup, the Asian teams met back in 2019 at Headingley in Leeds. Back then, the Men in Green beat Gulbadin Naib’s men by three wickets with three balls remaining.

Afghanistan will go into the match after losing to the Netherlands at the Chepauk. Pakistan will be looking to make amends after losing to the Aussies by 62 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Both teams will be desperate for wins to climb the ladder in the points table.