On Friday, January 5, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian National Cricket Team’s T20I squad for the upcoming home series against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team.
This will be the first time that India will host the Afghanistan national cricket team in a three-match T20I series. The matches will take place on January 11, 14 and 17. Punjab Cricket Association’s IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, will host the first match, while the next two will be played at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, and M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
The series is of equal importance for both sides as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is just a few months away. The series against the Afghans is the last T20I series that the Men in Blue will play before the main tournament in the US .and the Caribbean.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is scheduled to be played from June 4 to 30, 2024, and a total of 20 teams from around the world will participate in the competition.
While the Afghanistan series will be the last T20I matches for the Men in Blue before the T20 World Cup, they will participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 before the competition, giving them the much-needed T20. play and practice time.
India announces squad for T20I series against Afghanistan
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee was forced to pick a different captain for the Afghanistan T20I series as Hardik Pandya, who has been leading the team in T20Is since the Men’s T20 World Cup ICC 2022, he was left out with the injury he suffered during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
In the absence of star all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav, he has been given the leadership duties for the five-match T20I series against Australia at home and the three-match T20I series against the Proteas in South Africa. He did a brilliant job in both assignments but will also miss the Afghanistan series due to injury.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned to India’s T20I setup for the first time since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 loss to England in the semi-final.
Overall, the Men in Blue and the Afghans have faced each other 5 times in T20I cricket with the former winning 4 matches and one ending in a no-win. Afghanistan will be looking forward to their first T20I victory against the Men in Blue in the upcoming series.
Here is India’s complete T20I squad for the series against Afghanistan:
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
🚨 NEWS 🚨#TeamIndiaThe team of @IDFCFIRSTBank T20I series against Afghanistan announced 🔽
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,…
-BCCI (@BCCI) January 7, 2024