On Thursday, January 11, at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, India and Afghanistan will square off in the opening Twenty20 International of their three-match series. Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, chose to bowl first after winning the toss and making his 14-month wait to return to the T20I team. Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, seamer Avesh Khan, and wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson were all conspicuous omissions from the Indian playing XI for the opening Twenty20 international.
In contrast, Sanju Samson has amassed 374 runs from 24 games with a strike rate of 133.57, an average of 19.68, and one half-century.
With the exception of them, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was unable to be selected because of a strained right groin. The southpaw was supposed to open the innings with Rohit Sharma, according to head coach Rahul Dravid, but he was injured and had to skip it. This was announced before the series.
Shubman Gill will be seen opening the innings alongside the Indian captain in his place. As Jitesh Sharma was chosen as the wicketkeeper-batter, Sanju Samson was also left out of the roster. Sharma is noteworthy for having made his debut at the 2023 Asian Games and for having scored 69 runs in seven T20I matches thus far.
Ravi Bishnoi surpassed Kuldeep Yadav.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who finished as the series’ top wicket-taker with six wickets from two innings against South Africa, was another unexpected omission. After failing to play in the one match against South Africa, wrist spinner Ravi Bishnoi has been given a chance to take his place. During the five-match Twenty20 International series against Australia, Bishnoi took the most wickets with nine from five innings.
The 23-year-old rose to the second rank among bowlers in the ICC T20I rankings after his outstanding performance. Notably, it would be India’s penultimate assignment prior to the 2024 T20 World Cup.
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