Big picture: Final rehearsal for India
While Gill has improved his six-hitting ability, his powerplay strike rate in all T20s since the start of 2023 is only 138.44 while Jaiswal’s is 163.69. In Kohli’s absence, Gill could slot in at No. 3 on Thursday but may have to sit out for the last two games.
Afghanistan will be keen to build on their gains from the 2023 ODI World Cup. They will play nine T20Is between now and the T20 World Cup. So there is time to finalise the first-choice XI, play it together, and fine-tune it if required.
Form guide
India WLWWL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Afghanistan WLWWW
In the spotlight: Rohit Sharma and Najibullah Zadran
Team news: Samson or Jitesh?
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Jitesh Sharma/Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan (probable): 1 Hazratullah Zazai, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Ibrahim Zadran (capt), 4 Azmatullah Omarzai, 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Gulbadin Naib/Karim Janat, 8 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 9 Qais Ahmad, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Pitch and conditions: Win the toss and chase
Out of 40 T20s Mohali has hosted in the last two years, the chasing team has won 26. So the team winning the toss will be looking to bowl first, even though Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said he didn’t notice much dew in the past two days. At night, it could get slightly foggy with the temperature dropping below 5°C.
Stats and trivia: Will India get lucky with the toss?
- India have now lost 11 tosses in a row. The probability of that happening is 0.0005.
- Rohit needs 147 runs to become the second batter after Kohli to reach 4000 T20I runs.
- Mohammad Nabi needs 123 runs and eight wickets to complete the double of 2000 runs and 100 wickets in T20Is. So far, Shakib Al Hasan is the only one to do so.
- Axar Patel is five short of 50 T20I wickets.
Quotes
“Rinku Singh has made a good start in international cricket and he is playing really well. The role we have given him, the finisher’s role, he is fulfilling it. This is another opportunity for him to take his development further. As far as the selection is concerned, that will be decided later but when players perform well, they are always in the selectors’ minds.”
Rahul Dravid on if Rinku Singh could be a good pick for the T20 World Cup
“You see, we have one of the best spinners in the world, and we also have good fast bowlers in Naveen and Fazal. So our aim is to improve our batting skills and we will try to do more in that department.”
Ibrahim Zadran on the area Afghanistan are looking to improve the most in
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo