The Afghans are back in India to challenge the men in blue in a 3-match T20I series, starting Wednesday. The series holds utmost importance for Team India as it’s the last bilateral series for India before they fly to the West for the T20 World Cup 2024 later this year. Moreover, it will mark the comebacks of two stalwarts – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have been away from the shortest format of the game since India’s exit from the T20 World Cup 2022 after losing to England in the semi-finals.
The Squad
While Rohit returns to lead the Indian team against Afghanistan, the likes of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Ruturaj Gaikwad will miss out due to injuries. Pandya injured his ankle in the ODI World Cup while Suryakumar has been reportedly diagnosed with a sports hernia and is likely to travel to Germany to get it operated. On the other hand, Gaikwad suffered a finger injury during the second ODI against South Africa in Gqeberha.
All three of them will look to regain fitness and prove their mettle in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 so as to make the cut for the T20 World Cup.
Meanwhile, Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson have been named as the wicketkeepers in the squad while Ishan Kishan was left out. Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel are the three all-rounders in the mix.
India squad for Afghanistan T20Is:
Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
Afghanistan Squad for the 3 T20Is:
Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK). Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai. Rahmat Shah. Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Jana. Azmaullah Omarzai. Sharafuddin Ashraf. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem. Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan.
Head-to-head Record
Both teams have locked horns in 5 T20Is so far out of which one game yielded no result. India maintain a winless streak against Afghanistan with 4 wins.
No. of matches: 5
India won: 4
Afghanistan won: 0
No Result: 1
Schedule for the T20I series
1st T20I – January 11, IS Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali
2nd T20I – January 14, Holkar Stadium, Indore
3rd T20I – January 17, Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Live Streaming Details
The live telecast of the India vs Afghanistan T20I series will be available on Sports 18 Network. All three games will also be livestreamed on JioCinema app and website for free.
Match Start Time
All three T20I matches will start at 7 PM IST. The toss will take place at 6:30 PM IST.
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