End of all speculations: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have ended T20I exile. Rohit will lead India squad for Afghanistan T20Is while Kohli will also return. The two superstars have not played any T20Is since T20 World Cup 2022. However, India’s pace troika of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj are on a break due to IND vs ENG Test series. Sanju Samson who slammed his maiden ODI ton in South Africa has also been recalled.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
Apart from Bumrah-Shami-Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja has also been rested. Hadik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are out injured hence they miss out on IND vs AFG T20 series.
While Afghanistan has already unveiled its 19-member squad for the upcoming series, with Ibrahim Zadran leading the side, selectors delayed the release of India squad as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli expressed interest to return to the format.
As for Afghanistan, captain Rashid Khan is likley to miss might miss the series due to ongoing recovery from back surgery. The visitors, however, boast stars like Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, and Naveen-ul-Haq in their squad.