IND vs AFG: The Indian cricket team is set to host Afghanistan in the first T20I match at Mohali's PCA IS Bindra Stadium on Thursday. This will be India's last T20I assignment before the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 so they will be hoping for positive results under the regular captain Rohit Sharma.
Rohit and Virat Kohli return to T20I action after a gap of 14 months but the latter has been ruled out of the opening match of the three-match series due to personal reasons. Sruyakumar Yadav, the world no.1 T20I batter in the ICC rankings, and in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad are also ruled out of the series due to injuries but the Men in Blue have enough firepower in their star-studded batting unit.
For Afghanistan, the regular captain Rashid Khan has been officially ruled out due to injury. This comes as a big blow for the travelling side as they still search for their maiden T20I win against India after five matches. Ibrahim Zadran, who scored 64* against India in the Asia Cup 2023 game, leads the strongest possible team with Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq and Mujeeb Ur Rahman returning.
Match Details
Match: 1st T20I
Venue: Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali
Date & Time: Thursday, January 11 at 7:00 PM IST
Broadcast and Live Streaming: Sports18 HD, JioCinema Website and App
IND vs AFG Probable Playing XIs
India probable playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan probable playing XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmed, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
IND vs AFG Predictions
Best Batter of the Match: Yashasvi Jaiswal
The young Indian opener is confirmed to open with Rohit Sharma on Thursday after a string of impressive knocks across formats. In T20Is, Yashasvi has scored 430 runs in 14 innings at an impressive strike rate of 159.25 with one century and three fifties already. The left-handed batter scored 60 off 41 during India's last T20 game against South Africa and will be a top performer in the absence of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.
Best Bowler of the Match: Arshdeep Singh
The in-form left-arm pacer enters this game with a rich form. Arshdeep picked 10 wickets in the recent ODI series against South Africa and has been in good form in T20Is as well. Arshdeep has taken 59 wickets in 42 T20Is at an economy rate of 8.70 and has two wickets in two games against Afghanistan.
Who will win the Match: India (IND)
