India Vs Afghanistan 1st T20I: Sanju Samson To Ibrahim Zadran, 5 Cricketers To Watch Out For

Ahead of the three-match T20I series between India and Afghanistan, check out some of the exciting cricketers to watch out for.

Sanju Samson and Ibrahim Zadran. (Images: ANI)

There are many exciting things to watch out for in the upcoming three-match T20I series between India and Afghanistan. Firstly, the series sees return of India's stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who last played a T20I in 2022. Both Rohit and Virat focussed on Tests and ODIs after the semi-finals loss in T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. But with T20 World Cup 2024 closing in, they are back to the squad, aiming for the trophy after a gap of 16 years. Virat will miss the first T20I due to personal reasons whil Rohit is set to captain the team in the 1st T20I at Mohali.

Apart from Virat and Rohit, there are other exciting players to watch out for. Take a look at some of them here:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk)

Rahmanullah Gurbaz is one of the brightest batting talent in Afghanistan lineup. He will open the innings and look to take the Afghanistan off to an attacking start. Gurbaz has a strong off-side game as we have seen in the white-ball games he has been part of and also in IPL. He will be crucial for Afghanistan's success in the three-match T20I series.

Ibrahim Zadran

Ibrahim Zadran had a good 2003. He had a good World Cup, scoring 376 runs in 9 matches. Zadran will be looking to get off to a great start in 2024 with the bat. In this series, he is going to have an additional task of captaining the team versus a strong opponent like India.

Tilak Varma

Indian youngster Tilak Varma is struggling for runs. He had a tough time in South Africa, scorins just one fifty in 5 white-ball games on the tour. Coach Rahul Dravid would love to see him back among runs and expect Tilak to feature in all 3 T20Is. This should be his last chance to solidify his chance of making the cut to the T20 World Cup squad.

Shivam Dube

Shivam Dube has not played for India for a long time despite the fact that he was picked for the five-match series recently vs Australia at home. However, Dube was not picked for the white-ball leg of the South African tour surprisingly. In the home series vs Afghanistan, he returns again but it will be interesting to see whether he gets a game or not.

Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson has plenty to prove in the T20Is. In 24 T20Is so far, Sanju has scored 374 runs at a poor average of 19.68 and strike rate of 133.5. Sanju needs to live up to the potential of being a swashbuckling wicketkeeper and batter in this format internationally. He should make it the playing 11s in all the matches and it is time he delivers the goods.