Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Varun Chakaravarthy have made a return to India’s playing eleven as captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first against Afghanistan in the first of three T20Is here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
Unfortunately, we lost the toss and we will think about batting. So based on that and looking at the conditions, that’s really both. “It’s been a rollercoaster ride (as T20I captain), but if you see the previous series which we played against Zimbabwe, there were a lot of positives and the boys were optimistic in their approach. So we know he’s a match-winner and we know what he’s got to offer. “We had decided to bowl first. We will try to put a good total on the board.
So that’s the attitude we got to carry in this series as well. Because he’s immensely experienced and he carries a lot of great attitude when it comes to winning matches, “It’s a luxury to have him (Bumrah) in the squad.
After winning the toss, designated visiting captain Iyer said young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missed out on a spot in the side, with Sanju Samson returning to open the batting alongside Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan continuing to bat at number three. Winning the toss, Iyer said, “When you have played in Delhi, you do know what the pitch has got to offer and we’ve played quite a bit of matches over here. Zadran, captaining Afghanistan in T20Is for the first time, said pacer Naveen-ul-Haq is still not match-fit, and his availability for the coming games will be decided later.
Naveen is not ready for today’s game and we will think about him for the second and third game,” the Afghan skipper stated. “I hope they don’t forget us, but hopefully they come and support their own player, their own team, and give their energy to the players. Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, and Fazalhaq Farooqi
