New Delhi: Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Varun Chakaravarthy have made a return to India’s playing eleven as captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first against Afghanistan in the first of three T20Is here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium Sunday.
It’s the first time Afghanistan are hosting India in an away T20I series, which makes them the designated hosts here till Thursday. India have been dominant in T20I meetings against Afghanistan so far, with eight wins out of nine matches. Ahead of the toss, a unique coin was unveiled, and Iyer gave a special jersey to his counterpart Ibrahim Zadran.
After winning the toss, designated visiting captain Iyer said young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missed out on a spot in the side, with Sanju Samson returning to open the batting alongside Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan continuing to bat at number three.
India are also boosted by the return of Bumrah, Reddy and Chakaravarthy, who missed out on a lot of cricketing action in the last few months due to injuries to the knee, quadriceps and hamstring, respectively.
Winning the toss, Iyer said, “When you have played in Delhi, you do know what the pitch has got to offer and we’ve played quite a bit of matches over here. So based on that and looking at the conditions, that’s really both.
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride (as T20I captain), but if you see the previous series which we played against Zimbabwe, there were a lot of positives and the boys were optimistic in their approach. So that’s the attitude we got to carry in this series as well.
“It’s a luxury to have him (Bumrah) in the squad because he’s immensely experienced and he carries a lot of great attitude when it comes to winning matches. So we know he’s a match-winner and we know what he’s got to offer.
Zadran, captaining Afghanistan in T20Is for the first time, said pacer Naveen-ul-Haq is still not match-fit, and his availability for the coming games will be decided later. “We had decided to bowl first. Unfortunately, we lost the toss and we will think about batting. We will try to put a good total on the board.
“It’s a great feeling for us. It is a pleasure to host India, here in India for the first time. We are trying to enjoy ourselves, trying to have a good series against them. We have got lots of support from the fans in the past as well, and just requesting them to come and support both teams.
“I hope they don’t forget us, but hopefully they come and support their own player, their own team, and give their energy to the players. Naveen is not ready for today’s game and we will think about him for the second and third game,” the Afghan skipper stated.
Playing XIs
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, and Fazalhaq Farooqi
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy
