Stanikzai comes in for Aqil as Afghanistan bat; India unchanged
India come into the semi-final unbeaten while Afghanistan have had one slip-up against Sri Lanka
ESPNcricinfo staff
Feb 4, 2026, 7:30 AM • 4 hrs ago
Ayush Mhatre will hope he captains into into another Under-19 World Cup final • ICC/Getty Images
Toss Afghanistan U-19 chose to bat vs India U-19
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat in the semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup. They made one change, bringing in fast bowler Khatir Stanikzai in place of Aqil Khan.
Stanikzai has played all but the last Super Sixes game and comes back in, replacing Aqil who picked up 3 for 36 against Ireland.
India have, meanwhile, fielded an unchanged XI from their previous game against Pakistan. "The boys are doing well and the attitude they are showing is great. We just want to play simple cricket," India captain Ayush Mhatre said at the toss.
India come into the semi-final unbeaten and on the back of a convincing 58-run win against Pakistan. Afghanistan have had one slip-up against Sri Lanka but are coming off a big 191-run win against Ireland.
India: 1 Aaron George, 2 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 3 Ayush Mhatre (capt), 4 Vihaan Malhotra, 5 Abhigyan Kundu (wk), 6 Vedant Trivedi, 7 RS Ambrish, 8 Kanishk Chouhan, 9 Khilan Patel, 10 Henil Patel, 11 Deepesh Devendran
Afghanistan: 1 Osman Sadat, 2 Khalid Ahmadzai, 3 Faisal Shinozada, 4 Uzairullah Niazai, 5 Mahboob Khan (capt & wk), 6 Azizullah Miakhil, 7 Khatir Stanikzai, 8 Abdul Aziz, 9 Roohullah Arab, 10 Nooristani Omarzai, 11 Wahidullah Zadran