The only guy in the spotlight will be Rohit Sharma, who is making his comeback, as his longtime teammate Virat Kohli withdrew from the opening Twenty20 International against Afghanistan for “personal reasons” prior to the two sides’ inaugural white-ball series, which gets underway in Mohali on Thursday. However, Kohli will be fit for the T20 Internationals two and three. Prior to speaking with the media, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid explained that Kohli’s withdrawal was due to “family reasons”. The three-match rubber between the two veterans—who are making their return to the shorter format after a 14-month break.
“He is not totally fit. We will miss him in the series. We will struggle without Rashid but one should be ready for any kind of situation,” Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said on the eve of the series-opener, hoping that others in the side would step up.
Khan is currently recovering from back surgery that he had in November of last year.
Shubman Gill and players like Jaiswal and Tilak Varma are still in the team despite playing top-order roles in the series draw with South Africa.
With Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya out with injuries, Rinku Singh will be crucial for India in the middle order after he demonstrated his worth in South Africa. The two choices for holding the wicket for the team are Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson, with the curious omission of Ishan Kishan.
Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar are the three specialists in fast bowling, but Shivam Dube, who is also returning, can also be included in the eleven as an all-around pace bowler. The spin attack will be spearheaded by Kuldeep Yadav, with options including Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar.
Estimation
Under ideal circumstances, India should easily prevail, but Afghanistan will give them a serious competition. The team is fully healthy except from Rashid’s forced absence due to injury. This is because players like Mujeeb Zadran, Naveen-Ul Haq, and Fazalhaq Farooqi have resolved their contractual disputes with the national cricket board.
Finalised Squads:
Team India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
Team Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan.
