London, Jun 23 (IANS): Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed on Sunday won the toss and elected to bat against South Africa in their crucial World Cup tie at the Lord's.

Pakistan have made two changes to their playing XI which featured against India. They have brought in Haris Sohail and Shaheen Afridi in place of Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali.

The Proteas have made no changes and have gone with the same team which played against New Zealand.

"We are going to bat first today. It looks a good wicket. We'll try to put runs on the board and defend it. We are focussing on this match and hopefully we do well. It's an important game for us. Haris Sohail and Shaheen Afridi are back in the team," said Ahmed after winning the toss.

"There's pressure every game you play, especially in the World Cup. Two teams will try to play their best cricket today, hopefully it'll be exciting. We had an opportunity to launch in the last 10 overs in the last game, but we fell 15 runs short. It's the same team, gives us a good balance. I was going to bowl first anyways, it's a good toss to lose," said South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis.

Playing XI: Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed(w/c), Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (w), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis(c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir