IND vs AFG: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli Return As India T20I Squad For Afghanistan Series Gets Announced

On Friday, January 5, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the T20I squad of the India National Cricket Team for the upcoming home series against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team.

This will be the first time that India will be hosting Afghanistan National Cricket Team in a three-match T20I series. The matches are set to be held on January 11, 14 and 17. The Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali will be the host for the first match while the next two games will be played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, and M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

The series holds equal importance for both sides with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 just a few months away. The series against the Afghans is the last T20I series that the Men In Blue will play ahead of the marquee tournament in the USA and Caribbean.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is scheduled to be played from June 4 to June 30, 2024, and a total of 20 teams from across the globe will take part in the competition.

Although the Afghanistan series will be the last few T20I matches for the Men In Blue before the T20 World Cup, they will be taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 ahead of the competition, which will provide them the much-needed T20 game time and practice.

India Announce Squad For T20I Series vs Afghanistan

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee was forced to pick a different captain for the Afghanistan T20I series as Hardik Pandya, who has been leading the side in T20Is since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, was out with the injury that he suffered during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

In the absence of the star all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav was handed the leadership duties for the five-match T20I series against Australia at home and the three-match T20I series against the Proteas in South Africa. He did a brilliant job in both assignments, but he too will miss the Afghanistan series due to an injury.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have made their comeback to India’s T20I setup for the first time since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 loss to England in the semi-final.

Overall, the Men In Blue and the Afghans have locked horns with each other on 5 occasions in T20I cricket with the former winning 4 matches and one finishing with no result. Afghanistan will be looking forward to earning their maiden T20I win against the Men In Blue in the upcoming series.

Here’s India’s Complete T20I Squad For The Series Against Afghanistan:

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

? NEWS ?#TeamIndia’s squad for @IDFCFIRSTBank T20I series against Afghanistan announced ?

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,…

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 7, 2024