India are all set to face off against Afghanistan in a three-match T20I series. The opening encounter will be contested at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, September 13.
The Men in Blue will be without Harshit Rana, who has been ruled out with injury. Yash Thakur has been named as his replacement. India have a few selection decisions to make ahead of the opening T20I.
India’s squad for the Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma (vc), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur.
On that note, here is India’s predicted playing XI for the first T20I against Afghanistan.
Openers: Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was dropped midway through the T20I series against England, but he was the Player of the Series in Zimbabwe. That could mean that he retains his spot as an opener ahead of Sanju Samson, who has been in and around the team in recent times.
Abhishek Sharma is undroppable at the other end and will look to be India’s star man once again.
Middle Order: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar
India have had a settled middle order in recent times. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer will make up the top four, with Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma manning the two slots below them. Tilak’s form has been questionable, but the Men in Blue clearly have a lot of faith in him.
Nitish Kumar Reddy has only just returned from injury, and India already have a third seamer in Dube. So Washington Sundar and Axar Patel could both feature in the first T20I. Sundar, who is also on the back of a layoff, will need to be eased into things.
Lower Order: Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy
Jasprit Bumrah has been adjudged fit and should man the pace attack alongside Arshdeep Singh. Varun Chakaravarthy, meanwhile, will lead the spin unit.
Yash Thakur and Ravi Bishnoi are expected to be backups for now and could get their chances later in the series as India look to manage the workloads of key players.
Edited by Sai Krishna