India will play Afghanistan in the first Super 8s match of the T20 World Cup 2024. India are still undefeated in the T20 World Cup. They started the tournament with a win over Ireland before defeating Pakistan and USA in the following two games. India’s final game against Canada was washed out due to rain. The Men in Blue topped the Group A and qualified for the Super 8s.
India have been clubbed with Australia and Afghanistan in Group 1 of the Super 8s. One of Bangladesh or the Netherlands will also join the teams in the group. India will play Afghanistan on June 20 at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. The Rohit Sharma-led side played all their matches in New York where the conditions were very tough to bat as fast bowlers dominated the matches. Barbados wicket, however, will present a different challenge with low and slow surface, with spinners being more of a threat. India thus could make a few changes to their playing XI for the match.
One player who seems almost certain to play is Kuldeep Yadav who will be an ace weapon for Team India in Barbados. Kuldeep Yadav could replace Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI. Virat Kohli has not looked comfortable as an opener and there is a possibility that he can be pushed down the order, with Yashasvi Jaiswal opening with Rohit Sharma. Jaiswal could replace one of Axar Patel or Ravindra Jadeja in the XI.
Jadeja has not been in great form, however, dropping him will take big heart thus at least for the first couple of games, Axar could be the unfortunate one to miss out. Although Shivam Dube has not been in great form either, however, India will be tempted to have him in the playing XI as he can be brutal against the Afghanistan spinners in addition to giving India an extra bowling option.
India’s Likely XI vs Afghanistan: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav
