In a first, both Vande Mataram, India’s national song, and Jana Gana Mana, India’s national anthem, were played before the start of the Men in Blues’ first T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital on Sunday evening. In cricket games, usually just the national anthems of the two competing nations is played before the match.

In accordance with the directive issued by the Union Home Ministry on January 28, all six stanzas of Vande Mataram were played before Jana Gana Mana. Following this, the Afghanistan national anthem was played.

FOLLOW: India vs Afghanistan Live Cricket Score, 1st T20I

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This year marks the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and the Government of India issued the directive to celebrate the occasion.

At the toss for the first India vs Afghanistan T20I, India skipper Shreyas Iyer asked Afghanistan to bat first after winning the toss.

Some eyebrows were raised when India chose to name the experienced Sanju Samson in the XI and dropped prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi despite the teenager smashing a 49-ball 81 in the third T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare on July 26 this year.

Meanwhile pacer Jasprit Bumrah also made a return to the playing XI after missing India’s recent assignments following the left-knee injury that ruled him out of an ODI in England and two Tests in Sri Lanka.


India also opted for specialist spinner Varun Chakravarthy ahead of seamer Yash Thakur.


“We’ve played quite a lot of matches here and looking at the conditions, we can bowl first. We had lots of positives from the Zimbabwe series and that’s the attitude we’ll carry,” said Iyer after revealing his side at the toss.

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On Bumrah’s return to the side, Iyer said it was a huge boost for India.


“It’s a luxury to have him (Bumrah) in the squad — he carries a lot of great attitude when it comes to winning matches.”