India’s squad for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan has been announced. This is the last series both teams will play before the T20 World Cup 2024. While the Men In Blue will host England for five Tests, the Afghans will directly play in the World Cup. Notably, both India and Afghanistan players (who are selected in the IPL 2024 teams) will play in the cash-rich league.
However, recently, some players were barred from playing in T20 leagues as they refused to sign a central contract from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). Meanwhile, talking about the series, both teams are looking to prepare for the T20 WC. While the Men In Blue would like to build from their performance in the final in the ODI WC, the Afghans nearly reached the semis.
The players that will be part of this series, whether for India or Afghanistan might be part of the T20 World Cup team too. Talking about the home team for the series, all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav remain to be ruled out of the game. Ruturaj Gaikwad is also unavailable due to a finger injury. On the other hand, Pandya was ruled out due to an injury during the ODI World Cup 2023.
On the other hand, Yadav got injured during the T20I series against South Africa. Gaikwad injured his finger during the ODI series against the same side
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma make their comeback in India T2oI team
As reported earlier, senior players such as Sharma and Kohli will play their first T20I game after the semifinal exit against England in the T20 World Cup 2022.
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
Afghanistan squadÂ
Ibrahim Zadran (capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmaullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan.
