India’s captain Shreyas Iyer, left, and Afghanistan’s captain Ibrahim Zadran throughout the unveiling of the Friendship Cup trophy forward of the primary T20I cricket match of a collection, in New Delhi.
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
In a yr when India and Afghanistan have locked horns in a one-off Take a look at and three ODIs, there’s a feeling of familiarity because the Asian sides meet once more for a T20I collection. This can be uncharted territory, nonetheless, given the quirk of Afghanistan being the official host for a three-game task within the coronary heart of India’s capital metropolis.
The Afghans have performed ‘house’ ties in India beforehand, however by no means in opposition to the Males in Blue. The timing of the collection — India’s worldwide house season normally begins within the month of October — is one other peculiarity.
As soon as the motion will get underway beneath the twilight sky on the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, India will hope for no extra deviations from conference as Shreyas Iyer & Co. look to enter the Asian Video games in Japan in red-hot type. India, which received the T20 World Cup in March for a second successive title, begins the collection because the clear favorite. Nevertheless it won’t wish to run the chance of resting on its laurels, particularly after a shock collection defeat to Eire in June in Shreyas’ first task as full-time skipper.
The 31-year-old’s begin to life within the sizzling seat has been bumpy. Having additionally suffered a 0-4 rout by the hands of England following the Eire setback, it took a three-match tour of Zimbabwe for Shreyas to revel within the afterglow of a maiden victory as captain.
In southern Africa, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi performed his half with two half-centuries, offering a glowing reflection of the prodigious talent bursting via his veins. The 15-year-old southpaw might have had a difficult initiation in opposition to Jofra Archer & Co., however appeared proper relaxed while flaying the Zimbabwe assault in Harare. The Afghans, who possess the tempo of Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi, will definitely attempt to study the 15-year-old with the short-pitched ploy. It’s a check that the teenager star would wish to embrace with glee.
With a fit-again Jasprit Bumrah again to working at full tilt, in the meantime, the frailties that have been laid naked with the ball in the UK shouldn’t resurface. He could also be turning 33 in December, however stays the undisputed spearhead of the Indian tempo pack.
If India is getting accustomed to Shreyas’ management model, Afghanistan is within the technique of absorbing the concepts of the brand new captain-coach mixture of Ibrahim Zadran and Richard Pybus. The subsequent three T20Is might provide some indications of their imprint on the group.
The groups (from): Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (Capt.), Darwish Rasooli, Noor ul Rahman (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Nangeyalia Kharote, Rashid Khan, Abdollah Ahmadzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad.
India: Shreyas Iyer (Capt.), Tilak Varma, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Yash Thakur.
Match begins at 7 p.m.
Printed – September 12, 2026 07:12 pm IST
