There was no place for Vaibhav Sooravanshi in Aakash Chopra’s playing XI for the first T20I against Afghanistan, scheduled to be played on Sunday (September 13). The former India opener picked Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as the two openers. They will be followed by Ishan Kishan. Captain Shreyas Iyer will bat at number four. Sooryavanshi and Samson haven’t played a T20I together yet. “The biggest burning question will be who you would field as your openers. Sanju’s Ireland tour wasn’t good, and you didn’t play Vaibhav there,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“England hadn’t gone bad, but you dropped him (Samson) before that. He didn’t go to Zimbabwe. Now that you have selected him, in my opinion, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson should be the openers,” he added.
After warming the bench against Ireland, Sooryavanshi finally made his T20I debut in the second game of the series against England. India dropped Samson for that game.
The team management dropped Sooryavanshi for the fifth game and brought back Samson. Sooryavanshi made his return to the playing XI against Zimbabwe and played all three games. Samson was rested for that series.
Sooryavanshi pounced on the opportunity and piled up 151 runs to win the Player of the Series award. He could lose his spot in the final XI despite his heroics in the previous series.
Aakash Chopra’s playing XI for first T20I vs Afghanistan: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy
India vs Afghanistan details
The India-Afghanistan series will be an away series for Team India. Afghanistan, who have been playing in India for more than a decade, are the hosts for this series. The three games will be played on September 13, 15 and 17. India will be using the visiting team’s dressing room in the series. After the Afghanistan series, both teams will travel to Japan for the Asian Games.
Disclaimer: This article summarizes a report by Aakash Chopra. While Times Now has verified the public data presented, the interpretations of ‘intent’ remain those of the creator.