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The India National Cricket Team has made three changes for the second ODI match against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday (June 17). Prince Yadav has been handed the debut cap by Shreyas Iyer before the toss in Lucknow after Sourav Ganguly approved his selection.
Captain Shubman Gill has confirmed that Kuldeep Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to the India XI for the second ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow. Gill also confirmed Prince’s much-awaited debut in the series after handing debut caps to Harsh Dubey and Gurnoor Brar in the first ODI.
Shreyas Iyer hands the debut cap to Prince Yadav ahead of the 2nd IND vs AFG ODI
Prince Yadav has become the third player to make his India debut in the ongoing three-match ODI series against Afghanistan after receiving his cap from the new T20I captain and senior middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
With Gurnoor Brar retaining his place, Harsh Dubey and Prasidh Krishna left out of the second ODI against Afghanistan. Additionally, Nitish Kumar Reddy is missing the Lucknow show because of the quad injury. But Gill didn’t share many details about Reddy’s injury.
Prince Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s entry have led to a heavy shuffle in the batting order as captain Gill dropped himself to number three while KL Rahul was demoted to number six. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer will bat ahead of Rahul, with Jaiswal opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma in the second ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow.
Precious moments ✨
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 17, 2026
Congratulations to Prince Yadav as he receives his #TeamIndia ODI debut cap from Vice-captain Shreyas Iyer 🥳👏
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/JYJ5l44iJ6#INDvAFG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/dX9JYubQFH
Shubman Gill explains team selection twist
Speaking at the toss, Shubman Gill said that the Men in Blue would have also bowled first had they won the toss against the Afghan side because of the team combination, as they were forced to play with only five bowlers in Lucknow. However, Gill said India is ready for this challenge.
Gill stated, as quoted by Cricbuzz: “It's all about just being in difficult situations and getting that experience. If you're chasing, have the habit of chasing the big scores, and if you're defending, how can we defend those low totals, and how clinical can we be with our bowling? We have got three changes. Prince makes his debut. Nitish was unavailable for selection in this match. He had some issues with his quad. So, we have got Kuldeep and Jaiswal in.”
Notably, Prince Yadav got India call-up after taking 16 wickets in 14 matches for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2026.
Teams for 2nd IND vs AFG ODI:
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Darwish Rasooli, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Bilal Sami
The Lucknow pitch looks good for batting at the start, even though some areas look uneven. The weather is extremely hot, with temperatures above 40°C, so the surface could crack and help spinners later in the match on Wednesday.
