India won the toss and Rohit Sharma opted to bowl against Afghanistan in the first T20 amoung the three-match series on Thursday in Mohali
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl against Afghanistan in the first T20I of the three-match series on Thursday in Mohali. The first T20I marks the start of the first bilateral series between the two teams. Apart from World Cup and continental events, India and Afghanistan have never played a series. Both teams had played a one-off Test a few years back. At the toss, India captain Rohit, who is back in the T20I side after a gap of 14 months, revealed that the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kuldeep Yadav will not feature in the series-opener.
Rohit’s remark were contorary to India head coach Rahul Dravid, who had claimed on the eve of the game that Jaiswal will open the innings with the veteran batter.
“As of now, we will be opening with Rohit and Jaiswal. When you have a squad that offers flexibility, we can take a call that is in the best interest of the team,” Dravid said on the eve of the match.
However, Rohit Sharma said Yashasvi Jaiswal has missed out.
“We will bowl first. No particular reason, the pitch is good and it doesn’t change a lot here. A lot to gain from the 3 games, we haven’t had too much T20 cricket leading to the World Cup, there’s IPL, but this is an international game and we’ll try to achieve a few things. I had a chat with Rahul bhai regarding the combination going forward and what we need to do as a group. That’s what we’ll try to do, but winning is the most important thing. Sanju Samson, Avesh, Yashashvi (who didn’t pull off well) and Kuldeep miss out,” Rohit said at the toss.
Moments after toss, the BCCI shared a medical update on Jaiswal. The player was unavailable for selection due to a groin issue.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma(w), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran(c), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman. “Mr Yashasvi Jaiswal was unavailable for selection for the first T20I due to a sore right groin.,” the BCCI statement read. For more updates click
India (Playing XI)
Rohit Sharma(c)
Shubman Gill
Tilak Varma
Shivam Dube
Jitesh Sharma(w)
Rinku Singh
Axar Patel
Washington Sundar
Ravi Bishno
Arshdeep Singh
Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan (Playing XI)
Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w)
Ibrahim Zadran(c)
Rahmat Shah
Azmatullah Omarzai
Mohammad Nabi
Najibullah Zadran
Karim Janat
Gulbadin Naib
Fazalhaq Farooqi
Naveen-ul-Haq
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
