IND vs AFG: India to bowl first in first T20I, Virat misses out

IND vs AFG: Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited Gurbaz's men to bat first in the first T20I of the three-match series against Afghanistan at Mohali today. Rohit is making a comeback in the T20Is format after more than a year. This is also the first instance that a bilateral series is being played between India and Afghanistan in any format. 

🚨 TOSS ALERT 🚨

India won the toss and opted to bowl in the first T20I against Afghanistan! 👍#AfghanAtalan | #INDvAFG2024 | @LavaMobile | @EtisalatAf | @IntexBrand pic.twitter.com/34x5Ju0PQt

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) January 11, 2024

Why Virat Kohli and Rashid Khan are not playing today? 

Earlier, Virat Kohli pulled out of the game due to personal reasons. Star Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan is also not playing the series who is in recovery after undergoing lower-back surgery.

At the toss, Indian skipper Rohit said, "We will bowl first. There is no particular reason; the pitch is good and it does not change a lot here. There is a lot to gain from the three games. We have not had too much T20 cricket leading up to the World Cup. There is the IPL, but this is an international game and we will try to achieve a few things. I had a chat with Rahul (Dravid) Bhai regarding the combination going forward and what we need to do as a group. That is what we'll try to do, but winning is the most important thing. Sanju Samson, Avesh, and Yashashvi (who did not pull off well) miss out."

Afghanistan skipper Ibrahim Zadran said, "We wanted to bowl first as well, but it is not a big problem, we will try and execute our plans. This is a massive opportunity to get experience ahead of the T20 World Cup. We will try and play some positive cricket. Noor Ahamad, Sharafuddin, and Saleem Saifi are not playing, forgot the rest of the guys."

#TeamIndia Captain @ImRo45 wins the toss and elects to bowl first in the 1st T20I.

A look at our Playing XI for the game.

Live - https://t.co/hhj7wGbXqt #INDvAFG @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/AUlCcYwCXP

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 11, 2024

Playing XIs of India and Afghanistan

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

🚨 STARTING XI 🚨

Here's our XI for the first match against India. 👍

Go well Atalano! 👏#AfghanAtalan | #INDvAFG2024 | @IntexBrand | @EtisalatAf | @LavaMobile pic.twitter.com/xPKmQkmpGl

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) January 11, 2024

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.