After a series-levelling victory in the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, India now return to white-ball cricket with their three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, starting in Mohali on Thursday, January 11, 2024. The series assumes significance as it is the last T20 international tournament that India will play ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in June. (Match Blog | More Cricket News)
And hence the Men In Blue will look to fine-tune their preparations and finalize their core players for the marquee 20-over tournament. The selectors have decided to include both senior pros Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the squad for the Afghanistan T20Is. While Rohit will captain the side, Virat will miss the first game due to "personal reasons".
T20 mainstay Suryakumar Yadav and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya are unavailable due to injuries, which means southpaws Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh will get another opportunity to make their case before the T20 World Cup. Similarly, seamers Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar too will get the chance to shine and impress selectors, as frontline pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have been rested.
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For the wicket-keeping role, it will be a tussle between Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson. Though it remains to be seen who India will pick, there is a fair possibility of them going with the latter. Samson scored a match-winning century in India's 78-run victory over the Proteas in the third ODI and Jitesh hasn't had similar success with the bat in India colours lately.
As for Afghanistan, with their talismanic all-rounder Rashid Khan missing due to injury, they might continue with fellow leg-spinner Qais Ahmad. Mujeeb Ur Rahman is also likely to get a look in, in the team for the first T20I.
Here are the likely playing XIs for the first IND vs AFG T20I to be played in Mohali:-
Likely Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (C), Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (C), 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
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib
Weather In Mohali
The city of Mohali is currently undergoing a cold wave, with the mercury expected to drop below five degrees Celsius on Thursday night. The chilly conditions could present a challenge to both sides when fielding, in particular. The maximum temperature will hover around 15 degrees, which will only come about during the afternoon.
There is little to no chance of rain, however. Dew is another aspect that both teams will have an eye on, and on the eve of the match there was not much of it. Dew is an unpredictable element, however, and things may change on match day.
