The Indian cricket team will be up against Afghanistan in a must-win clash to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup. The match will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and Virat Kohli’s side will look to make a comeback after soul crushing defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand.

Rohit Sharma bowls in training before match against Afghanistan

Other than winning their next three matches with big margins, the Indians will have to pin their hopes on Afghanistan beating the Kiwis to have a chance of making it to the next round. Several questions have been asked about the team’s selection, the batting order and the performance of bowlers.

Here is the Predicted XI for India against the Afghans:

Rohit Sharma

The opener is a definitive pick in spite of two poor performances. He is an irreplaceable part of the top order and is expected to open once again after experimenting with Ishan Kishan in the last match.

KL Rahul

While his performances in the Indian Premier League have always been brilliant, he is yet to show the same verve for the national side.

Ravichandran Ashwin deserves place in starting XI after poor display from Chakravarthy, Jadeja

Virat Kohli

The Indian skipper will have to lead from the front in the crucial encounter against some of the world’s best spinners.

Ishan Kishan

The youngster should be getting another chance after a poor display against New Zealand considering the form he showed in India’s warm-up fixture.

Rishabh Pant

The wicket-keeper seems to have cemented his place in the line-up as the man behind the stumps and the fiery batsman who is usually handed the task of adding runs to the total in death overs.

Hardik Pandya

The all
rounder has not been the same since his shoulder injury but he is still a big
threat to the opposition because of his ability with the bat.

T20 World Cup: With semis hopes hanging by thread, India face gritty Afghanistan

Ravindra Jadeja

The all-rounder contributes greatly to the team in all three aspects i.e. batting, bowling and fielding.

Ravichandran Ashwin

The veteran spinner is expected to be chosen over Varun Chakravarthy after the latter failed to grab any wickets in the previous encounters.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Mohammed Shami has not been in the best form and has been unable to grab any wicket, on top of that batsmen have found it easy to score against him.

Shardul Thakur

Although the pacer was not given much of a chance to show his true colours against New Zealand, he adds much needed depth to India’s bowling as well as batting.

T20 WC: Sachin Tendulkar highlights this as major concern for Indian batters

Jasprit Bumrah

The pacer is the only bowler who has succeeded in providing India a breakthrough and has maintained a good economy rate. The skipper can always count on him to deliver with the ball.

Would you make any changes to this line up? Let us know in the comments.