New Delhi: Despite resounding wins over Australia and England in the warmup games of ICC Men's T20I World Cup, team India's defeat against Pakistan and New Zealand has almost knocked out the Men in Blue from the tournament. Virat Kohli-led India tonight will take on Mohammad Nabi-led Afghanistan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Afghanistan's journey so far has been awesome in the World Cup - from defeating Scotland and Namibia, to pushing heavyweights Pakistan to the brink of defeat. If the Indian team gets defeated by Afghanistan tonight, they'll get knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2021.
In this match, India might go ahead with the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Suryakumar Yadav, who was rested for Ind vs New Zealand T20 WC game due to back spasm, has reportedly recovered and is available for Ind vs Afg T20 World Cup match.
Apart from this, it will be interesting to see in this match whether Indian captain Virat Kohli picks veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in India XI or once again goes ahead with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Although Varun's performance so far has not been up to the mark, and that's why chances of Ashwin playing Ind vs Afg T20 World Cup match are high.
Team India's probable playing XI for India vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup match:
India's Probable Playing XI against Afghanistan: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin.
Afghanistan Probable Playing XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Usman Ghani, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat/Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Naveen Ul Haq