Matches between the Indian and Afghan teams will take place in the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the capital of India as part of the 2026 friendly cup. Prior to this, India suffered defeats in tours against Ireland and England, although the team managed to regain some momentum in Zimbabwe.
The Indian squad aims to start the series with a victory against Afghanistan. The team is led by strong batter Shreyas Iyer, and young talent Tilak Verma serves as vice-captain. The team is ready to break through the opponents' defense thanks to the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Yash Thakur.
Experienced batter-bowler Sanju Samson and magic spinner Varun Chakravarthy have returned to the squad, having been absent during the visit to Zimbabwe.
All attention is focused on the 15-year-old super-talent Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who achieved a historic feat by scoring a half-century in 18 matches against Zimbabwe. In the previous tour, he won the 'Player of the Series' title by scoring 81 runs in 49 matches.
The Afghanistan team intends to change its fate in this T20 series after losing both the test and ODI series to India in June. Ibrahim Jadaran is ready for his first major challenge as the full-fledged T20 captain. Additionally, fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has returned to the team after recovering from injury.
Players such as Rashid Khan, Rehmanullah Gurgaz, Nur Ahmed, Mohammed Nabi, and Gulbadin Naib are well acquainted with Indian pitches and capable of changing the course of the match at any moment.
In T20 history, India has completely dominated Afghanistan. Out of nine encounters between them, India has won eight times, and one match ended in a draw. Afghanistan is still searching for its first victory over India in the T20 format.
Indian Team: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur.
Afghan Team: Ibrahim Jadaran (Captain), Rehmanullah Gurgaz (Wicketkeeper), Nur Rehman, Sedikullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Ajmatullah Umrazai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammed Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Haroti, Nur Ahmed, Mujib Ur Rehman, Fazlhaq Faruqi, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Naveen-ul-Haq.