Returning after an absence of more than 14 months, Virat Kohli will make his first T20I appearance, having sat out the first game due to personal reasons.
by MOHAMMED AZMATHULLA
India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, won the toss and chose to bowl against Afghanistan in the second T20I in Indore on Sunday.
During the toss, Rohit revealed two changes, with Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal returning to the lineup after missing the series opener. Shubman Gill and Tilak Varma, however, did not secure a place in the playing XI.
With the T20 World Cup in June being India’s next major assignment after this series against Afghanistan, Rohit emphasized the team’s intention to experiment with different strategies in preparation for the global tournament.
Although Rohit didn’t disclose specific details about the changes, he expressed the importance of both trying new things and achieving positive results.
“We are going to bowl first. No particular reason. Just the nature of the ground, especially the small boundaries. The things we were talking about in our meeting, we were able to come out and execute that in the first game. We asked specific roles from the guys, and they performed accordingly.
Not much; they don’t have any baggage, and it is all about backing them, allowing them to be free on the ground. We will do things keeping the WC in mind, but we know results are also important. Kohli and Jaiswal back for Gill and Tilak,” Rohit stated during the toss.
Virat Kohli missed the first game due to personal reasons, while Yashasvi Jaiswal had been recovering from a groin issue.
Afghanistan also made a change, with Noor Ahmad replacing Rahmat Shah, who made his debut in the last match.
“We will try to bat well today and put runs on the board. Again lost the toss, and I would have wanted to bowl first.
We spoke about the first game and worked in the net session yesterday. We did not have a good start with the bat in the last game, we spoke, and hopefully we can give a good start today. Rahmat is not playing. Noor Ahmad is playing,” explained Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran.
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma(w), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
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