India vs Afghanistan, 1st T20 playing XI tip off: Rohit Sharma returns to lead, no Virat Kohli, Jitesh over Samson as keeper

Less than six months before they kickstart their T20 World Cup campaign, India will play their last T20 series in the lead up – three matches against Afghanistan at home. The men in blue, who last played T20Is against South Africa, have played a total of 25 matches since the last T20 World Cup, claiming win in 16, and are one of the favorites for the 20-team tournament later this year.

Amongst the big changes in the squad is the return of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who’ll be featuring in the format for the first time since the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.

Here’s how the team is likely to line up for the first T20I in Mohali:

Rohit returns to open

India’s full time skipper across formats will be leading the team in the three-match series and is likely to be the opener for all three games. The absence of Ruturaj Gaikwad has been talked of as the reason behind Rohit’s return to the squad.

The second highest T20I scorer of all time – behind Kohli – Rohit has four hundreds to his name in the shortest format to accompany 29 half centuries. What remains to be seen is who will India persist with as his opening partner. Since the T20 World Cup in Australia, both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill have been utilised as openers in the format. While Jaiswal has claimed 430 runs in 14 innings so far in the format at a strike rate upwards of 159, Gill has scored 365 runs at a strike rate almost touching 150. Both have scored a hundred each in the format last year, and the two were the openers the last time India played a T20I series, in South Africa.

The left-right combination may favor Jaiswal’s case, who is also the more aggressive candidate, conforming to India’s T20 blueprint of late.

No Kohli, Tilak at 3

On the eve of the first T20I in Mohali, head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed that Virat Kohli has opted out of the game owing to personal reasons but shall be available for the last two matches in Indore and Bangalore.

It may be a final opportunity for Tilak Varma to mark an impression in Indian colors ahead of the T20 World Cup. Varma, who made his debut for India last year, has been a regular number three in the series against West Indies, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. In 14 innings, the southpaw has amassed 310 runs at a strike rate of 141. With Kohli likely to bat at three upon his return and Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh likely to make up for the remainder of the batting lineup for the T20 World Cup this summer, the game in Mohali is indeed an important one for Tilak.

Jitesh Sharma over Sanju Samson 

As part of their attacking approach in the T20 format, the management has also given break to Jitesh Sharma, a lower order keeper batter with a penchant to clearing boundaries in the latter stages of the innings.

While Sanju Samson, a more experienced keeper-batter alternate with 24 outings under his belt, is part of the squad, the team management are likely to give Jitesh a longer rope ahead of the T20 World Cup. Adding another pinch hitter lower down the order as opposed to a top order batting alternative – of which there is no dearth already – in Samson, the former seems like a more suited choice.

Predicted playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.