AUS vs PAK, ICC World Cup 2019: Sarfaraz wins toss, invites Australia to bat first

Pakistani skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and opted to field first. Shaheen Afridi comes into the playing eleven in place of Shadab Khan

Australia take on Pakistan in Match 17 of the ICC World Cup at County Ground in Taunton in a short while from now. The match is scheduled to commence at 3 pm (IST). Australia who had registered back to back wins against Afghanistan and West Indies, suffered their first loss in the World Cup  at the hands of India at the Kennington Oval on Sunday. Pakistan who began the tournament well by beating hosts England had to share points with Sri Lanka in their last encounter which got abandoned due to rain. Both the teams would be looking to register a win under their belt and get their World Cup campaign back on track. Toss Update Pakistani skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and opted to field first. Sarfaraz Ahmed, Pakistan captain: We are going to bowl first today. There's a bit of grass and moisture on the pitch, so we need to take advantage of that. Unfortunately we couldn't play the last game, but we practised hard in the last few days so the momentum is very high for us. Shadab Khan will sit out today and Shaheen Afridi comes back in for us. One of our Test umpires (Riazuddin) has passed away, and in honour of him, we're all going to wear black bands today. Aaron Finch, Australia captain: Would've bowled first too. A tinge of green and some moisture in the wicket. In a world cup, winning so many against Pakistan doesn't really matter much. We have to wait and see what the wicket plays like. I expect some swing and seam-movement. It depends on the game. India bowled really well to us as, as did Afghanistan. Marcus Stoinis is out with a side-strain, Shaun Marsh comes in for him, and Kane Richardson comes in for Adam Zampa. Here is the playing eleven of both the teams Pakistan (Playing XI): Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez(w/c), Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith, Usman Khawaja, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey(w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson