IND Vs AFG: The Men in Blue have won the three-match T20 International series in Indore yesterday and they lead by a margin of 2-0. Now the home side will look to whitewash Afghanistan in the last match of this series.
The 3rd and final game of the shortest format will also be the last one for India before the T20 World Cup 2024 in WI and USA.
In this match, India should look to get Shubman Gill back in their playing eleven. Gill was part of the first match of this series and he didn’t make most of that opportunity.
Still, the new skipper of the Gujarat Titans deserves a chance and he should open the innings with Jaiswal or skipper Sharma on Wednesday.
India’s bowling has been good and Axar Patel has been very impressive in the 2 matches played till now. Patel also did well in the five-match series of the shortest format against the Aussies, which India won by the margin of 4-1 under Suryakumar Yadav’s leadership.
Axar keeps his place in the T20I setup of India along with Arshdeep, who has been the pick of the bowlers with new ball and in the backend overs.
However, the likes of Mukesh, Avesh, Sundar and Bishnoi still need to do well to be part of the ICC mega event of the shortest format.
Avesh Khan hasn’t played in this series yet. India would like to give him a chance in the last match. Kuldeep Yadav is another one who can be brought in as well for this dead rubber game versus the Afghans.
The chinaman bowler has done well in the ODI format and he has been also named in the five-match Test series against England at home.
Talking about the visitors, Afghanistan, they still have T20I matches to figure out the right combination for the event in West Indies and United States of America.
However it is their batting which has let them down and due to that, their bowlers had nothing to defend.
If Afghans rectify their batting issues then that would benefit them hugely. Gulbadin Naib and Mohammed Nabi are the only positives for them with the bat in the first two matches of this T20I series.
The other players like Gurbaz, Najibullah, Ibrahim and Zaizai should fire, then only the bowlers can be effective for them.
Afghanistan has quite a few quality all-rounders and many of them have also done well in the Indian Premier League tournament as well. But they have failed to perform in this series.
Karim Janat has been the highest wicket-taker and Gulbadin Naib is the highest run-getter for Afghanistan in this three-match T20I series.
The Afghans haven’t won a single T20 International match against the Men in Blue till now. They will want to end their losing streak against Rohit Sharma and his men at Bengaluru which would put them high on confidence before the T20 World Cup.
But according to the predictions made by the experts and fans, India is the favorite to win this series by a margin of 3-0 and also whitewash Afghanistan in this series.
Day – Wednesday
Date – 17th January 2024
Venue – M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru
Toss Timings – 6.30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 1 PM GMT
Match Timings – 7 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 1.30 PM GMT
Live Streaming – JioCinema Mobile Application and Website
TV Channels – Colors Cineplex – Hindi Commentary, Sports Network 18 – English Commentary
India - Rohit Sharma(c)/Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli/Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson/Jitesh Sharma(wk), Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav/Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, and Mukesh Kumar/Avesh Khan.
Afghanistan - Ibrahim Zadran(c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz(wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi/Karim Janat, Noor Ahmad and Naveen-ul-Haq.
Batters – Virat Kohli, Najibullah Zadran and Gulbadin Naib
Bowlers – Karin Janat, Arshdeep Singh and Noor Ahmed
All Rounders – Shivam Dube and Mohammed Nabi
Wicketkeeper – Jitesh Sharma
Vice Captain – Rahmatullah Gurbaz
Captain – Axar Patel
