Wahab Riaz plays his first match of the World Cup. —Photo by AFP

COLOMBO: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi won the toss and opted to bat against Canada in the World Cup Group A match at the R. Premadasa stadium on Thursday.

Pakistan replaced left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, who has injured his abductor muscle, and rested paceman Shoaib Akhtar from the line-up that beat Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday.

Their places were taken by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and paceman Wahab Riaz – both making their World Cup debuts.

Canada, who lost to Zimbabwe in their last match, dropped out-of-form opener John Davison and brought in paceman Henry Osinde.

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Ahmed Shahzad.

Canada: Ashish Bagai (capt), Rizwan Cheema, Harvir Baidwan, Nitish Kumar, Tyson Gordon, Henry Osinde, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Khurram Chohan, Jimmy Hansra, Zubin Surkari, Balaji Rao.

Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS) and Nigel Llong (ENG)

TV umpire: Tony Hill (NZL)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

Pitch conditions: The pitch at the R. Premadasa stadium has a brownish look. It is likely to help seamers in the initial stages and to favour spinners later on.