South Africa win toss opt to bat against Afghani

MUMBAI: ‘South Africa captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat in the World Twenty20 Super 10 clash against Afghanistan at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.The Proteas, considered one of the favourites to lift the trophy at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on April 3, suffered a morale-sapping loss on Friday, going down against England after setting them a target of 230.They dropped Dale Steyn from the side that lost their Group One opener and drafted in bowling all-rounder David Wiese, hoping to get their campaign back on track against their lesser-known opposition.”Looks like a good surface. We don’t know too much about Afghanistan. ..they have some good spinners,” Du Plessis said at the toss.Afghanistan, who reached the Super 10 stage after coming through the qualifiers, also lost their opening match against defending champions Sri Lanka.Karim Sadiq, Shafiqullah and Hamid Hassan were dropped from the Afghan side that lost in Kolkata and were replaced by Shapoor Zadran, Amir Hamza and Gulbadin Naib.Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai hoped his side would be able to restrict South Africa’s powerful batting line-up.”The wicket looks good, it’s a high-scoring ground,” Stanikzai said.'”Hopefully, we will restrict them to 150.”