India vs Afghanistan: Jaiswal, Kuldeep benched as Rohit makes T20I return at Mohali

Skipper Rohit Sharma officially made his return to the shortest format after more than a year as India opted to field in the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali on Thursday. The ‘Hitman’ makes his return to T20Is for the first time since leading the Men in Blue to the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Virat Kohli too had been included in the squad for the current series, but missed the first match due to personal reasons.

LIVE: India vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I in Mohali

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had opened during the T20I series against Australia at home as well as in the tour of South Africa, was benched to accommodate Rohit at the top of the order. There had been discussion of Rohit opening alongside Kohli in this series, but the India skipper will open alongside Shubman Gill for now.

According to an official update from the BCCI, Jaiswal missed out on the first T20I due to a “sore groin”.

“Mr Yashasvi Jaiswal was unavailable for selection for the first T20I due to a sore right groin,” read the statement from the board.

UPDATE: Mr Yashasvi Jaiswal was unavailable for selection for the first T20I due to a sore right groin.#INDvAFG

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 11, 2024

Also missing out on the first match at Mohali’s IS Bindra PCA Stadium are Sanju Samson, Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Yadav. Samson had been included in the T20I squad after his heroics in the ODI series in South Africa, which he brought up his maiden international hundred in the series decider in Paarl. The team however, went with Jitesh Sharma as their wicketkeeper-batter and decided against playing Samson purely as a batter.

As for the spin department, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi has been picked as the only frontline tweaker with off-spinner Washington Sundar and left-arm orthodox spinner Axar Patel picked as all-rounders.

Indian XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma(w), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar