India have a good opportunity to put Afghanistan in their place and show why they are still the better team. The home team are solid in these conditions and the Afghans will have to play out of their skins to challenge them. India will be unruffled by what Afghanistan do.
The venue for this game, the Holkar Stadium in Indore, has short boundaries. This will come as a problem to any of the two teams who cannot clear the fence regularly. If India, who have a host of top hitters in their side, manage to do so, they can beat Afghanistan comfortably.
Afghanistan, too, have an array of sloggers in their batting unit, and they will be licking their lips in anticipation of coming up against the Indian bowlers. However, the latter have quite a few tricks up their sleeves and will want to bring them out in the spinning conditions that Holkar also offers.
Afghanistan will rely on their bowlers Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi to ensure they do not give too many easy runs away to the Indians. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back into the side after a long time, it will be interesting to see how they tackle the challenges put to them by the Afghan bowlers.
All eyes will be on Tilak Verma and Rinku Singh in the Indian unit, as these youngsters have done well for their country recently.
Probable Playing XIs
India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh.
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad.
Key Players
Tilak Verma: Young Tilak Verma, who played for Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy encounter against Nagaland last week and scored a century, will want to continue doing well for India in T20Is. He has carved a name for himself in the middle order, and the Men in Blue will want him to continue flourishing.
Ibrahim Zadran: Opener Ibrahim Zadran, who will lead the Afghanistan side in Rashid Khan's absence, will have to put up a brave front for the rest of his side to follow. Zadran is a delicate batter at the top of the order, and he will have to set up a good platform for the rest of his players to come in and consolidate.
Match Prediction
Despite Afghanistan's several advantages, other favourites exist to win this game. India have the upper hand over them, and we expect them to win this game quite comfortably. The home team will feel more comfortable in these conditions. It will allow them to show the best they can. Afghanistan have a big challenge on their hands.