2nd T20I: India elect to bowl against Afghanistan; Kohli returns
India and Afghanistan are set to lock horns in the 2nd T20I at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. The hosts thrashed Afghanistan by six wickets in the series opener in Mohali. Ibrahim Zadran's men will try their best to win the upcoming clash in Indore and enforce the decider. Indian captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bowl.
Venue, pitch report, and streaming details
Indore's Holkar Stadium will host the second T20I between India and Afghanistan. As per Howstat, 210 is the average first innings score here in T20Is which means one can expect a high-scoring affair. Out of the three T20Is here, teams batting first have won twice. Sports18 will telecast the match, while JioCinema will allow fans to live-stream it from 7:00pm IST.
The return of Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has returned for India in the 2nd T20I against Afghanistan. He missed the first clash due to personal reasons. Kohli last featured in T20Is for India back in November 2022 against England at the ICC T20 World Cup clash in Adelaide. Heading into the 2024 T20 World Cup, Kohli's form will be extremely crucial. He owns over 4,000 T20I runs.
India are unbeaten against Afghanistan
India and Afghanistan have met in only six T20Is as of now. While India remain unbeaten with five wins, one of these games was washed out. The two sides have locked horns thrice in the T20 World Cup and once in the Asia Cup. Last year, the India-Afghanistan final at the Asian Games (men's T20 competition) had no result.
Two changes for Team India
Kohli has replaced Tilak Varma as Yashasvi Jaiswal too made a return, replacing Shubman Gill. India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar.
Rahmat Shah misses out for the Afghans
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
