World Cup 2019, AFG vs AUS: Toss, team news, pitch report, weather

Australia chose in-form Khawaja over Shaun Marsh and former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan misses out as Gulbadin Naib won the toss and decided to bat first at Bristol.

Australia will be expecting early wickets from Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.

Toss:   Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib won the toss and opted to bat against Australia at Bristol on Saturday.

Team news: For Australia, Usman Khawaja is preferred over Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile gets the third pacer's slot. Former skipper Asghar Afghan is not playing today for Afghanistan and Aftab Alam misses out too.

Pitch report: Mel Jones and Wasim Akram assess the pitch. They see green, green and green across to other end where there is a man who loves this. Seems like a pitch that you would love as a bowler. There is a good covering of grass and some moisture too.

Weather: It is a bit cloudy today.

Quotes:

Gulbadin Naib: We are gonna bat first. Looks a good wicket, flat as well and we have three spinners. Hence, we're batting first and hoping to put a good score on the board. Yes, they are a champion side and we need to start well against them. Everyone knows about the spinners of Afghanistan, all of them are experience and skilled - Nabi, Mujeeb and Rashid.

Aaron Finch:   I would have batted first as well, looks a good wicket and put runs on the board. Not that hard on top and hopefully, we can get some movement early on. (On Khawaja over Marsh) Usman's form over the last 14-15 games was too good to ignore. Really tough call but we had to make it. Lyon, Richardson and Behrendorff are the others missing out.

Playing XIs:

Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad(w), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib(c), Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan.

Australia: Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey(w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa