India vs Afghanistan 2024, 1st T20I: Match preview and result prediction

India are gearing up for the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the Afghanistan T20Is will be their last international tournament in the format beforeleaving for the United States and West Indies in June. With the three-match series set to commence in Mohali on Thursday (Jan 11), all eyes will be on the returning Rohit Sharma, who made himself available for the first time since the 2022 T20 World Cup semis exit. Here is the match preview and result prediction of the first T20I between India and Afghanistan.

Match Preview

India and Afghanistan are without their stars, Virat Kohli and Rashid Khan, respectively. While Kohli is unavailable for the first game only for personal reasons, Rashid is out of the series as he is recovering from a back surgery. Even though India have rested several first-team players and a few T20 superstars will also be missing due to respective injuries, including Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, the home team will still be upbeat to answer some unanswered questions thus far.

Following the 2023 World Cup at home, India won the Australia T20Is and was victorious against South Africa in an away series. Considering they haven’t tasted success in this format in marquee events since winning the inaugural edition in 2007, India haveplenty to ponder, with picking the right players for the right slot being a priority.

In the absence of Shreyas Iyer and SKY, India will field a relatively inexperienced middle order, with keeper-batter Sanju Samson, rookie Tilak Varma and emerging T20I batter Rinku Singh sure to make the cut in the playing XI for the first T20I.

India’s bowling looks sorted with the return of Axar Patel in the side. Three lesser-experienced seamers will make up the pace attack, while Kuldeep Yadav will start as the specialist spinner.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan are also entering the contest on the back of a series win over the UAE in T20Is. Though Rashid Khan’s absence might rob them of a chance of winning a series in India, the visitors have the World Cup-bound squad to take care of things at the helm.

Without discounting what Afghanistan haveto offer in T20Is in this part of the world, the hosts will start as favourites in the first of the three T20Is in Mohali.

Match Conditions –

Considering peak winter conditions in north India, expect dew to play a role, with any team winning the toss and choosing to bowl first being the likely beginning of the game.

Here are the predicted XIs of both teams –

India -

Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar

Afghanistan -

Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (C), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Qais Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi