All eyes will be on Rohit Sharma after Virat Kohli pulled out of first T20I on match eve. The star batter has pulled out of the opening T20I against Afghanistan due to "personal reasons" ahead of the first ever white-ball series between the two teams, beginning here on Thursday. Kohli, though, will be available for the second and third T20 International.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

India head coach Rahul Dravid attributed Kohli's pull-out to "family reasons" before he addressed media. Both the stalwarts are returning to the shortest format after 14 months and will be keenly observed in the three-match rubber, which will be India's last before the T20 World Cup in June, giving the team more clarity on where it stands ahead of the ICC event in Americas.


Also Read | Fact Check: Did Rahul Dravid Drop Ishan Kishan From T20I Squad Vs Afghanistan Due To Disciplinary Issues?


Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan will be unavailiable for the T20I series as he underwent a back surgery in November last year and is still recuperating. "He is not totally fit. We will miss him in the series. We will struggle without Rashid but one should be ready for any kind of situation," Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said on the eve of the series-opener, hoping that others in the side would step up.


The focus, however, will firmly be on Rohit, easily among the biggest crowd-puller. His presence on the field would be a big reason for the Mohali crowd to brave the prevailing cold wave.


 


 


India vs Afghanistan Dream11 Prediction


Captain: Rohit Sharma


Vice-captain: Azmatullah Imarzai


Wicketkeepers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz


Batters: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Ibrahim Zadran


All-rounders: Azmatullah Omarzai


Bowlers: Rashid Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Naveen Ul Haq, Mukesh Kumar


India vs Afghanistan Probable XIs:


India Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan


Afghanistan Probable XI: Ibrahim Zadran (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Karim Janat, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hazratullah Zazai


India vs Afghanistan 1st T20I: Squads


India: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Ravi Bishnoi.


Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fareed Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Hazratullah Zazai, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Saleem.