Toss India opt to bat vs Afghanistan
The series in the bag already, India decided to challenge themselves by batting first in Bengaluru, a venue notorious for helping out chasing sides in the night. India made three changes to their side, giving out opportunities to Sanju Samson and Avesh Khan, and also going an allrounder light and bringing in the more attacking spinner, Kuldeep Yadav. Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh were the ones who sat out.
Afghanistan, still looking for a win over India in international cricket, would have chased had they won the toss anyway. They did take the adventurous route with their combination, though, and made four changes. Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad and Mujeeb ur Rahman were the ones who sat out. Mohammad Saleem and Fareed Ahmad replaced the fast bowlers, left-arm wristspinner Qais Ahmad took on the spinner’s role, and Sharafuddin Ashraf was the extra allrounder.
The stage was set for Virat Kohli‘s IPL home ground to watch their favourite batter continue with the newfound intent he had displayed in Indore upon his comeback to the T20I side. Rohit Sharma, the captain, has been full of intent himself but is still looking for his first run in the series.
India 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Rohit Sharma (capt.), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shivam Dube, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran (capt.), 3 Gulbadin Naib, 4 Azmatullah Omarzai, 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Karim Janat, 8 Sharafuddin Ashraf, 9 Fareed Ahmad, 10 Qais Ahmad, 11 Mohammad Saleem
This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.