T20 World Cup: Will Ashwin, Surya find place in India’s playing XI vs Afghanistan?

As India play Afghanistan in a do-or-die clash on Wednesday, the focus shifts to the team’s playing XI. Quite a few questions will be answered when Virat Kohli announces the team at the toss. Will Suryakumar Yadav replace Ishan Kishan? Will Varun Chakravarthy make way for Ravichandran Ashwin or Rahul Chahar? Let’s try to break it down. 

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What team India’s two crushing defeats have in common is the failure of the star-studded batting line-up. Against Pakistan, India scored 151 runs and lost by 10 wickets and New Zealand chased down a below-par 111-run target with more than five overs to spare. The team has tried opening with KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma in different combinations so far. However, if Suryakumar Yadav, who played at No 4 in the first game, is fit against Afghanistan, Kishan is likely to be benched. 

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India’s optional training session on Tuesday saw eight players, including Suryakumar Yadav, practice. The 31-year-old is recovering from back spasms. He went through some fitness drills, batted at the nets and did fielding practice. 

One more name that will give the team management a good headache is Rahul Chahar’s. The leg-spinner was also seen practicing and his introduction might mean India finally going for leg-spin in the T20 World Cup. Varun Chakravarthy is yet to pick his first wicket in the tournament so far. 

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The mystery spinner can also be replaced by Ravi Ashwin. While the off-spinner wasn’t at the training on Tuesday, it will be tough to ignore him as an option when the team is on the verge of a shocking exit from the ICC contest. 

For Afghanistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi or Usman Ghani is likely to fill in for retired Asghar Afghan.

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Squads (from):

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravichandran Ashwin

Afghanistan: Mohammed Nabi (captain), Hazratullah Zazai, Ahmed Shahzad, Gulbadin Naib, Naveen ul Haq, Rashid Kham, Hamid Hasan, Rahamnaullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Fareed Ahmed, Usman Ghani.

Match Starts: 7:30 pm IST.