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India handed maiden ODI caps to Harsh Dubey and Gurnoor Brar ahead of their clash against Afghanistan, with the two youngsters marking a special milestone in their careers.Dubey received his cap from KL Rahul, while India captain Shubman Gill presented Gurnoor Brar with his debut cap before the start of play. After earlier concerns over the weather, conditions improved significantly and the skies cleared in time for the match. The contest would be reduced to 25 overs per side, setting up what promises to be an intriguing encounter. Under the revised playing conditions, each team can use a maximum of five bowlers, with each bowler allowed to deliver up to five overs. The batting powerplay will last for the first five overs of each innings.At the toss, Gill called correctly and elected to field first, citing the overcast conditions and the possibility of early assistance for the seamers.“We will bowl first. It’s a bit overcast, so the bowlers might get some help. Looks like a good surface, good wicket to bat on, could be something early on for the pacers. It’s all about trying different combinations to see what works for us. We’re playing around 15-20 ODIs before the World Cup, so it’s about trying things. We’re going with two debutants. Jaiswal, Prince and Kuldeep miss out,” Gill said.Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi admitted that his side would also have preferred to bowl first but remained confident about putting up a strong performance.“We wanted to bowl first, but it’s not in our hands; we need to start well with the bat. We did very well in the recent past. This is the first time we’re playing India in their home conditions, we’re excited and hopefully we’ll do well. There are three seamers and three spinners, one seamer is an all-rounder,” Shahidi said.With two debutants in the Indian XI, favourable weather conditions returning and a shortened 25-over format adding an extra layer of unpredictability, the stage is set for an absorbing contest.Teams:Afghanistan (Playing XI): Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Rashid Khan, Mohammad Saleem Safi, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman SharifiIndia (Playing XI): Shubman Gill(c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(w), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
