India vs Afghanistan 1st T20I Today Match Playing 11, Full Squad: Shreyas Iyer’s India will take on Ibrahim Zadran’s Afghanistan in the three-match T20I series starting on Sunday. All eyes will be on who will open for the Indian side with Abhishek Sharma. Although Sanju Samson has returned to the squad after being absent from the series against Zimbabwe, question marks do loom around his spot.

Former Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane pointed out that India should stick to the top three who won the 2026 T20 World Cup—Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan—and also noted that Sooryavanshi’s time will come.

“I feel the top three should be the same that played in the World Cup. Samson has done well, but he got dropped after two or three bad innings. I want him to get another chance. Abhishek and Ishan also did well for us. Vaibhav will get his opportunities, and his time will come. But for now, I feel the top three should be Samson, Abhishek, and Ishan, who were our contributors in the World Cup,” he said in a video on his Hindi YouTube channel.

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Apart from this, Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has been out with an injury, is back in the side. With his all-round abilities, he will add an extra dimension to the side, filling Hardik Pandya’s role. Jasprit Bumrah, too, who has been out with an injury, has returned to the side and is expected to start.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, has its usual suspects who are highly experienced in this format due to the Indian Premier League. The spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad will test the Indian batters. 

Predicted XIs

India predicted XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan/Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh

Afghanistan predicted XI: Sediqullah Atal, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq.

Squads:

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Afghanistan Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran(c), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor ul Rahman, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Nangeyalia Kharoti

India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy