• Source:JND
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India vs Afghanistan T20I Series: Indian captain Rohit Sharma and young star batter Yashasvi Jaiswal will be opening the innings for the team, confirmed head coach Rahul Dravid ahead of the first T20I match against Afghanistan.

India and Afghanistan will face off in a three-match series which begins on Thursday, January 11 with the first match scheduled to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

With Virat Kohli not available for the series opener, Rohit and Jaiswal as the openers, Shubman Gill, the third opener in the squad, could slot in at No. 3.

"As of now, we will be certainly opening with Rohit and Jaiswal," Dravid said in the pre-match press conference. "But when you have a squad, you have to have that flexibility to do whatever is required if that is in the best interest of the team, and gives us the best chance to succeed. So nothing is closed. But certainly, we're really happy with what Jaiswal has done as an opener for us, and he gives us a left-right combination as well at the top."

 

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Jaiswal made it to the India colors on the back of a remarkable performance with the bat in the IPL 2023, ending the tournament being the fifth-highest run-getter with 625 runs to his name.

He has done well so far to replicate those numbers at the international level as well. Since making his T20I debut, against West Indies in August 2023, Jaiswal has 430 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 159.25. And across T20s since the start of 2023, his powerplay strike rate has been 163.69. For comparison, Gill's powerplay strike rate in the same period was 138.44.

Dravid also turned down all the speculations over the exclusion of Ishan Kishan, saying that the wicketkeeper-batter had asked for a break during the South Africa tour.

After the squad was announced, there were also rumors over whether Shreyas Iyer had been rested or dropped. Earlier this week, he was named in Mumbai's squad for their second Ranji Trophy game against Andra Pradesh on January 12. Dravid clarified there was no disciplinary reason behind Iyer's exclusion.

"Ishan Kishan was not available for selection," he said. "Ishan requested for a break [while] in South Africa - which we which we agreed to, which we supported, [and] which we recognised - and he has not yet made himself available for selection. I'm sure when he is ready, he will play domestic cricket and make himself available for selection.

 

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"And certainly in Shreyas Iyer's case, there was absolutely no disciplinary reason for his non-inclusion. There were a lot of batsmen in the team, and Shreyas Iyer missed out. He didn't play the T20s in South Africa as well, if you notice, and it's unfortunate. He is a fine player, but there are a lot of batsmen, and it is not easy to fit everyone in the squad and the playing XI. There are absolutely no disciplinary reasons, and that was not discussed at all - at least in my discussions with the selectors when they were having these deliberations and discussions."

The second match of the three-match series between India and Afghanistan will be played in Indore followed by the third match scheduled for Bengaluru.

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