Team India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl against Afghanistan in the first T20I at IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. Rohit, who is back in T20I after a gap of 14 months, wanted to chase the target in the series opener.
In-form Yashasvi Jaiswal missed out on the Playing XI as skipper Rohit said that he has not been keeping well at the moment. Meanwhile, senior batter Virat Kohli, who has been picked in the T20I squad after more than a year, was unavailable for selection in Mohali due to personal reasons.
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Sanju Samson, Avesh Khan, and Kuldeep Yadav were the other players who failed to make the cut in the XI.
The hosts decided to go with three spinners – Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav. While Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar were chosen as the pacers.
Rohit said that the team will look to gain a lot from the three-match series which will be their last T20I assignment before the T20 World Cup in June.
“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.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Ibrahim Zadran said that playing against India is a big opportunity for him ahead of T20 World Cup.
“We wanted to bowl first as well, but it’s not a big problem, we’ll try and execute our plans. This is a massive opportunity to get experience ahead of the T20 World Cup. We’ll try and play some positive cricket. Noor Ahamad, Sharafuddin, Saleem Saifi aren’t playing, forgot the rest of the guys,” Zadran added.
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
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
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