India’s three-match T20I series against Afghanistan starts on January 11. With a few seniors back and few out due to injuries, here is a prediction on how India’s playing XI might look like for the first game.

The return of the big shots Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli headlined India’s squad announcement for the Afghanistan T20Is. Having not played any game in the format since the last T20 World Cup in Australia, the duo return to stake a claim in the squad for the next edition in June 2024.

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, two of the players who have shared the burden of captaincy of the Indian T20I team since the 2022 T20 World Cup, are both unavailable as they are recovering from injuries.

You can find the full India squad for the Afghanistan T20Is here.

India’s predicted XI for the first Afghanistan T20I

Openers

With Rohit back at the helm, he’ll walk into the XI as an opener. He has not had a great time with the bat in this format for a few years now, but his recent success as an ultra-aggressive opener in ODIs gives hopes that he can replicate the same in T20Is.

The two other opening options in the squad are Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. Jaiswal bats left-handed, and has been slightly more consistent of the two, which should help him pip Gill to the opening slot alongside Rohit.

Middle order

Kohli will slot right back in at No.3 with Tilak Varma taking up one of the other middle order slots between No.4 and 5.

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— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) January 7, 2024

India have two wicketkeepers in Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma. Samson usually prefers batting in the top four, while Jitesh is more of a finisher. While Jitesh has impressed in the last few T20Is he played, showing attacking intent from ball one, Samson last played a T20I in August 2023.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Punjab Kings wicketkeeper slots in at No.5, with Tilak batting at No.4. The No.6 spot, meanwhile, is secure with Rinku Singh already establishing himself as a reliable finisher. Shivam Dube will most likely sit out, at least to start with.

All-rounders

India have two spin all-rounders in Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. If India want to extend their batting, they might play both, with Axar at No.7 and Sundar at No.8.

But at least one of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi will almost certainly get a game, which means playing both Axar and Washington will result in having to play just two seamers. In Mohali, the venue for the first T20I, that would be a risky move.

Spinners

One of the toughest choices to make for India would be between Kuldeep and Bishnoi. While Bishnoi has started establishing himself as India’s first-choice leg spinner in the shortest format, Kuldeep’s exceptional form in white-ball cricket in the last year is hard to look past.

Unless India feel like they need to play both, which would be highly unlikely, Kuldeep may get the nod ahead of Bishnoi, only just.

Seamers

Apart from the all-rounder Dube, India have only three seam bowling options in the squad – Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, and Arshdeep Singh, which doesn’t give them a lot of wiggle room to pick and choose. Each of them will almost certainly feature in the XI across the three games unless an extremely spin-friendly surface is encountered.

Predicted XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar

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