When Rohit Sharma revealed India’s playing eleven for the T20I series opener in Mohali, he named Shubman Gill as his opening partner. On the eve of the first T20I, head coach Rahul Dravid in the press conference said that Yashasvi Jaiswal would open the innings against Afghanistan but he did not find a place in the side. The reason behind Jaiswal’s absence was his unavailability for selection.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a statement right after which said: “Mr Yashasvi Jaiswal was unavailable for selection for the first T20I due to a sore right groin.”
"As of now, we will be certainly opening with Rohit and Jaiswal," Dravid had told the media on January 10. "But when you have a squad, you have to have that flexibility to do whatever is required if that is in the best interest of the team, and gives us the best chance to succeed. So nothing is closed. But certainly, we're really happy with what Jaiswal has done as an opener for us, and he gives us a left-right combination as well at the top."
Gill has not been in form in the shortest format of late. On the South Africa tour, he registered scores of 9 and O. So far, his notable performances have been the unbeaten 126 against New Zealand and the 77-run knock against West Indies.
Meanwhile, Rohit will play his first T20I since India’s exit from T20 World Cup 2022 following a 10-wicket defeat to Jos Buttler’s England in the semifinal.
Virat Kohli was unavailable for the first T20I as well. Kohli pulled out of the series opener due to personal reasons which was confirmed by Dravid.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan Playing XI: 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
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