India vs Afghanistan 2024: Confirmed T20 Squad and Players List

Jasprit Bumrah to lead as we look at the confirmed India vs Afghanistan 2024 T20 squad and players list for the Indian Team. 

In just a few days, we will be entering 2024, and my gosh, it will be almost 4 years since the Pandemic broke out. How time flies! It feels like only yesterday when the whole world was fighting the COVID-19 outbreak, and by the grace of God, most of us are lucky to have survived to see the light of the day. Just as we humans survived the outbreak, the game we love the most, Cricket also survived gracefully.

After an eventful year for the Indian team (Aside from the upcoming Boxing Day Test Match), Team India will be beginning the 2024 campaign with the second Test match vs South Africa, and the Afghanistan T20 series. Both events have an important significance, but the focus will mostly be on the T20 series vs Afghanistan, which happens to be the last full series before India march into the 2024 T20 World Cup.

As of today, BCCI hasn’t scheduled any T20 series between the Afghanistan T20 series and the T20 World Cup. So, assuming we don’t see any other series, the Afghanistan T20 series holds deep importance for India as a last leap before the Mega battle. The series also holds great importance as India’s current leaders, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya won’t be available, and question looms over the T20 future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. 

Big Question?

Will BCCI bring back Rohit Sharma as the leader of the pack alongside Virat Kohli, or they look for another fresh Captain with Hardik and SKY not available? Well, this is the biggest question in the current context; the answer for which only BCCI has an answer.  Nevertheless, with the information that we have in front of us for all players, let’s look at the squad that Team India shall deploy for the 2024 T20 series vs Afghanistan.

Confirmed India vs Afghanistan 2024 T20 Squad for Indian Team

Given that the T20 series vs Afghanistan will be India’s last leap before the 2024 T20 World Cup, India will play to full strength, assuming all players are fit and available. While there is still no official word on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s selection, it won’t be prudent to assume that if Rohit and Virat miss this series, they won’t be a part of the World Cup squad.

Based on their form in the IPL, which they will definitely play, these two can make a direct comeback to the World Cup squad, if deemed necessary by the BCCI. However, BCCI may not select any of these two for the 2024 Afghanistan T20 series, and the young players should continue to get another opportunity to impress the selectors for the 2024 T20 World Cup.  

Batters – Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma & Yashasvi Jaiswal

It is confirmed that Team India will be without the services of Suryakumar Yadav as the player is suffering from an ankle injury. With SKY not there, India will go ahead with 6 batters that were also a part of the T20 series vs South Africa. While Ruturaj Gaiwkad is currently recovering from an injury, he will be fit by Jan 11 to participate in the T20 series. If he doesn’t by any case, we should see Sai Sudharsan or Rajat Patidar getting a maiden T20 call. 

So, assuming Ruturaj is fit and available, we should see him, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill as the preferred openers. While Rinku Singh should play the role of a finisher, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma should be the main players for the middle-order. Other than these 6 names, we should see two wicket-keepers as shared below.

WKs – Ishan Kishan & Jitesh Sharma

Coming to the wicket-keepers, India may once again go ahead with their preferred options, Ishan Kishan and Jitesh Sharma. While Ishan Kishan will play primarily at the number 3 position, Jitesh shall be looked at more for the finisher role. Other than these two, there’s slight hope of seeing KL Rahul in the team as the middle-order keeper option. However, the move looks unlikely for now. 

All-rounders – Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar

Coming to the All-rounders, India will want their leader and first-choice Captain, Hardik Pandya to make a comeback. However, given the extent of Hardik’s injury, it looks unlikely Hardik will recover, and BCCI won’t take any risk either. So, with Hardik not there, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel will be the three all-rounders in the team. 

Bowlers – Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah & Ravi Bishnoi

Finally, talking about the bowling, we shall see Jasprit Bumrah’s comeback to the Team after taking a rest in the T20 series vs South Africa. Not only that, in the absence of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, India will look at Jasprit Bumrah as the leader of the pack; the role which he also took against Ireland. With Bumrah at the helm, Ravindra Jadeja should be the Vice-captain of the squad. 

Other than Bumrah, India should have the same bowling combination that played the T20 series vs South Africa. So, we should see Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, and Mohammed Siraj as the primary pacers. Whereas Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi should be the primary spinners in the squad. Meanwhile, Deepak Chahar’s selection shall totally depend on his fitness, but it looks unlikely he will get fit in time. 

Confirmed India vs Afghanistan 2024 T20 Squad for Indian Team:

Batters: Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma & Yashasvi Jaiswal

WKs: Ishan Kishan & Jitesh Sharma

All-rounders: Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar

Bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah & Ravi Bishnoi

So, that’s about the India vs Afghanistan 2024 T20 squad and players list. Overall, India shall select a 17-member squad with matches set at home. The only major points shall be the selection of the Captain in the absence of Hardik and SKY, and whether Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli make a comeback. Meanwhile, here’s the official T20 series schedule. 

India vs Afghanistan 2024 T20 Series Schedule:

• 1st T20I – Jan 11 @ Mohali, 7 pm IST
• 2nd T20I – Jan 14 @ Indore, 7 pm IST
• 3rd T20I – Jan 17 @ Bengaluru, 7 pm IST

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