Toss: India opt to bowl vs Afghanistan

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl in his first T20I in more than a year. Rohit last featured in T20Is during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

India picked just two frontline quicks in Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar on a greenish Mohali pitch in chilly conditions. There was no room for Avesh Khan while Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings’ seam-bowling allrounder Shivam Dube made the cut. India also selected three spinners – Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar. Jitesh Sharma, meanwhile, was picked as keeper ahead of Sanju Samson.

Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said he would have preferred to bowl first as well. Zadran is leading Afghanistan in the absence of designated captain Rashid Khan who continues to recover from a back surgery. The ace legspinner has been ruled out of the entire series against India.
Afghanistan handed a T20I debut to Rahmat Shah, who has played 106 ODIs and seven Test matches so far. The 30-year-old last played a T20 game in July 2022. The visitors picked just two spinners in Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Shivam Dube, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mukesh Kumar.

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran (capt), 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Azmatullah Omarzai, 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Karim Janat, 8 Gulbadin Naib, 9 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman.



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