India vs Afghanistan, 2nd T20I: Indore has historically always been a high-scoring ground and it will be a perfect surface for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to shun their critics with a big score in the second match against Afghanistan.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are making their comeback in the T20I side after the gap of fourteen months. Rohit had a forgettable outing in Mohali, where he departed without troubling the scorer, while Kohli missed the match due to personal reasons.
India might made few changes in their starting line-up as this is going to be the last T20 interntaionals before the World Cup.
Here are few tip-off XI ahed of the India vs Afghanistan match:
Virat Kohli will mark his return to India’s T20 international playing XI since that T20 World Cup semifinal loss against England in Adelaide. With Kohli returning, Tilak Varma, who has been one of the regulars in the shorter format, might have to make way. There are high chances that Kohli will bat in his favourite No. 3 position, but head coach Rahul Dravid has not closed the doors on Virat, opening the innings with captain Rohit Sharma.
On the eve of the first match, Rahul Dravid made it clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal will open with Rohit Sharma, but the Mumbai batter was ruled out from the Mohali match due to groin injury. In his absence, local boy Shubman Gill scored a quickfire 12-ball 23 and was also involved in a hara-kiri that cost captain Rohit Sharma his wicket. If Jaiswal is fit then it would be interesting to see, how India will fit Gill in the playing XI.
Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai tore apart Ravi Bishnoi in the first match. The Afghans picked up the leg-spinner’s googly quite comfortably and attacked him from the ball one. Bishnoi might lose his place to chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who was adjudged player of the series in South Africa.
Local boy Avesh Khan might come in for Washington Sundar on a high-scoring venue. Washington with the ball looked off, while he didn’t get the chance with the bat. It will be an interesting call, if India goes with Avesh because it will weaken their batting line-up in the lower order.
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
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