Who Replaces Virat Kohli? Sanju Samson vs Tilak Verma for No. 4: India's Predicted XI for 1st T20I vs Afghanistan

Afghanistan are in India to face Rohit Sharma & his men in a three-match T20I series starting Thursday in Mohali. Team India’s final bilateral assignment before the T20 World Cup 2024 will see the Indian captain making a comeback in the shortest format after more than a year. Virat Kohli has also been named in the squad but the fans will have to wait a little longer to see him bat as he’s unavailable for the series opener due to personal reasons.

Openers Sorted

The task to pick a strong batting line-up has gotten more challenging with the return of the two stalwarts in Rohit and Kohli. India head coach Rahul Dravid on Wednesday confirmed that captain Rohit and young Yashasvi Jaiswal will form the top order. With Kohli not playing in Mohali, who slots in at the no. 3 spot?

Gill at No. 3

In that case, Shubman Gill, who was picked as the third opener, would get the nod. It would be a great opportunity for him to present his case, especially after an ineffective run in the shortest format last year. Though he scored a hundred in the format, he could only muster 312 runs in 13 innings at an average of 26.

The Absentees

While India will miss the services of Ishan Kishan, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and former vice-captain KL Rahul, Afghanistan won’t have their superstar Rashid Khan. Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were already ruled out of the series due to injuries.

Samson vs Tilak

No. 4 will be another mystery to solve for the team management and the toss-up would be between left-hander Tilak Varma and right-hander Sanju Samson. If the management keeps Rinku Singh in the eleven with Jitesh Sharma as the keeper-batter then Varma might have to sacrifice his position to Sanju who would play as a pure batter at No. 4.

All-rounders and the pace battery

In order to have an extra batting option down the order, India have got Axar Patel at their disposal and he would also share the spin-bowling responsibilities with chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav.

The pace trio of Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar will also be raring to beat the cold in Mohali with their fiery spells.

CricketNext’s predicted XI for Mohali T20I vs Afghanistan:

Openers: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal

Middle-order: Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk)

All-rounder: Axar Patel

Bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar.