Afghanistan will visit India for a three-match T20I series this month. The series will begin on January 11, and it is sandwiched between India’s World Test Championship series against South Africa and England. Considering that India’s all-format specialists will play against England in Tests, the selectors may prefer resting some star players for the three T20Is against Afghanistan.
Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are likely to miss the series due to injuries. Even Ruturaj Gaikwad might not be available because of an injury. Rohit Sharma can return as captain, but he will have to play five Tests and IPL immediately after that, so he will think twice. Keeping all that in mind, here is India’s predicted squad for the series.
Batters for T20I series vs Afghanistan – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk) and Rohit Sharma (c)
Fans should note that this will be the last T20I series for India before the T20 World Cup. Hence, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should return to the squad. The other batters who may receive a place in the squad are Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh.
All-rounders – Tilak Varma, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar
India should load the squad with spin-bowling all-rounders. Tilak Varma can be the main batting all-rounder, while Washington Sundar and Axar Patel can be the spin-bowling all-rounders. Ravindra Jadeja had a back spasm recently. Since his fitness will be important in the Test series against England, Jadeja should be rested for the T20Is.
Bowlers – Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav
India should rest Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar for this series because of the upcoming five Tests against England. Deepak Chahar can lead the pace attack along with Arshdeep Singh, while the two wrist-spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav will have the onus of destroying the Afghanistan batting lineup.
