Afghan T20Is: Bumrah boost for India as they look to repair dented pride

An India-Afghanistan T20I series, with all three matches scheduled at the latter’s ‘home’ venue in New Delhi, would normally be seen as an opportunity for the Men in Blue to try out some new faces. That’s not quite the case this time, with the Shreyas Iyer-led squad going in at full strength, barring Hardik Pandya. All eyes will also be on Jasprit Bumrah as he makes his comeback after July.

The question doing the rounds is whether the Indian team management decided to ‘play it safe’ against a potentially explosive Afghanistan, in the wake of the humiliation suffered by the back-to-back T20 World Cup champions in Ireland and England. The 2-0 series defeat to Ireland, in somewhat challenging conditions, was particularly galling, while India lost pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah again after the third ODI against England following a recurrence of his left knee injury. 

While the usual protocol has been to shield ‘Boom Boom’ from so-called lesser opponents, the Ajit Agarkar-Gautam Gambhir regime may have betrayed a slight trace of panic by naming him in the squad, subject to his fitness. There was, hence, a palpable sense of relief after Bumrah bowled at full tilt on Friday evening during the Indian team’s first practice session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.   

It was only a day earlier that Bumrah received the necessary clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence, with the series against new captain Ibrahim Zadran’s men being viewed as a dress rehearsal for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in the third week of this month. The three India-Afghanistan matches are scheduled for September 13, 15 and 17, although there is some confusion over whether Sunday’s opener could be postponed by a day because of police deployment requirements for the BRICS conference in the capital.

The historical twist of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) ‘hosting’ India for the three games need not be over-emphasised, with its chairman Mirwais Ashraf calling it another opportunity to strengthen its relationship with the BCCI.

Speaking to the ICC media, Ashraf said: “This series holds great significance for Afghanistan cricket and represents another important step in the development of our longstanding relationship with the BCCI. Hosting India for a bilateral series in India is a significant milestone for us, and we highly value the cooperation and support of the BCCI in making this event possible.”

The two sides have regularly faced each other across the white-ball formats, including Afghanistan’s most recent tour of India for a three-match ODI series in June 2026, which India won 3-0. However, the shortest format remains Afghanistan’s core strength, with the team boasting power hitters, a handy pace attack featuring the returning senior paceman Naveen-ul Haq, and world-class spin options led by the wily Rashid Khan.

It could well be a tricky test for Shreyas, with three of his teammates joining the squad barely a day after the Duleep Trophy final ended in Chennai. Ishan Kishan, the Player of the Match and the key force behind East Zone’s title triumph after a long gap with a marathon 270, young gun Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and T20 vice-captain Tilak Varma, who led East Zone, are the ones who hit the ground running straightaway.

Schedule

13th September - 1st T20I (Arun Jaitley Stadium)
15 Sept - 2nd T20I (AJS)
17 Sept - 3rd T20I (AJS)