The BCCI on Tuesday announced the Indian squad to face Afghanistan in a 3-match T20I series. Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana were all announced for the series but their inclusion in the matches is subject to fitness clearance.
This is same squad that will travel to Japan for Asian Games later this month.
Both Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi have been included in the squad. This was after the Kerala batter was rested for the Zimbabwe series back in July for Prabhsimran Singh to get a look in. Arshdeep Singh who was also given a breather for the Zimbabwe series after a long Ireland and England tour, was also back in the side. Bumrah returns to the squad after being sidelined due to a knee injury which he sustained during India’s ODI series in England, and subsequently missed the team’s two-Test series in Sri Lanka.
The two teams will play three games between September 13 and 17, all set to take place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital. The Afghans, who toured the country for a one-off Test and three ODIs in June, returns to Delhi to take on Shreyas Iyer’s side, shortly before the Asian Games campaign.
Over the years, Afghanistan have adopted India as one of their secondary home venues after playing their first-ever Test in the country in 2018. In June, India hosted the Afghans in the first-ever Test at the New Chandigarh Stadium. They recorded their biggest-ever Test win by an innings inside three days. The teams then met in a three-match ODI series, the first bi-lateral 50-over series between the sides that India won 3-0.
India team: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*