ENG vs AFG Probable XIs: Will Ben Stokes Play His First Game of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Against Afghanistan?

Defending champions England will be taking on Afghanistan at the ongoing World Cup 2023 on Sunday. England were crowned world champions in 2019 after beating New Zealand in the final.

England’s title defence, however, was off to a shaky start as they suffered a big defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the tournament opener.

ICC World Cup : SCHEDULE | RESULTS | POINTS TABLE | MOST RUNS | MOST WICKETS

Jos Buttler’s men were, however, quick to recover as they picked up a solid victory against Bangladesh in their next game.

England’s top batting order had a brilliant outing in that game as Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan stitched a 115-run partnership in the game. Malan completed his century while Joe Root scored 82.

England posted a mammoth 364 and eventually won by a big margin of 137 runs.

England will  now face Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, are still searching for their first victory at the World Cup 2023. They lost their tournament opener against Bangladesh before conceding a second straight defeat against hosts India.

England vs Afghanistan Head-to-head

England and Afghanistan have faced each other in only two ODI matches so far. In these two games, England emerged victorious on both occasions. These games were played at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.

England vs Afghanistan Probable XIs

ENG Probable XI: Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler (c and wk), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid

AFG Probable XI: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq

England vs Afghanistan Full Squads

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Harry Brook, Gus Atkinson, Reece Topley, David Willey

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq