T20 World Cup 2021: Strongest India Predicted Playing XI against Afghanistan

Team India will have a point to prove as they take on Afghanistan in their upcoming fixture of the T20 World Cup 2021. The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will host the encounter on Wednesday (November 3). Having suffered humiliating defeats in their first two games, the Virat Kohli-led side has been on the receiving end of massive criticism.

In fact, their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals are minimal. The Men in Blue will only go through if they win all their remaining league-stage games and other match results fall in their favour. As India’s net run rate of -1.609 is only better than Scotland in Group 2, they need to win their remaining fixtures handsomely to give themselves an outside chance. With Afghanistan having numerous match-winners in the ranks, India’s challenge won’t be easy by any means.

Meanwhile, here’s the predicted Playing XI of India for T20 World Cup 2021 Match 33:

Openers – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul

India’s gamble of experimenting with the batting order didn’t really work against New Zealand. Ishan Kishan was sent to open alongside KL Rahul while Rohit Sharma surprisingly came out to bat at number three. Although it would be harsh to drop Kishan after just one failure, the team management should go back to their initial batting combination.

Hence, the Hitman should open alongside KL Rahul. Both batters couldn’t do much in the first two games. Hence, they would be raring to bounce back against the Afghan team. Unlike New Zealand Pakistan, Afghanistan don’t have a daunting set of opening bowlers. Hence, Rahul and Rohit’s challenge might ease down a bit.

Middle-Order – Virat Kohli (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK)

Indian skipper Virat Kohli will come out to bat at number three and he’ll have a point to prove. The talismanic batter scored a fighting half-century against Pakistan but couldn’t replicate his heroics against the Kiwis. As Kohli has been struggling against wrist spinners lately, Rashid Khan will be in operation when Kohli comes in the middle.

Kohli will be followed by Suryakumar Yadav. Having missed the New Zealand clash due to a niggle, Yadav is likely to replace his Mumbai Indians teammate Ishan Kishan to strengthen the middle-order. Rishabh Pant, who scored a quick-fire 39 against Pakistan, is next in the batting order and the southpaw also has a job in hand.

All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja

Hardik Pandya bowling a couple of overs was probably India’s only takeaway from the New Zealand clash. However, the dasher needs to showcase his big-hitting abilities to help the inaugural-season champions. He’ll be facing the likes of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi in the crunch overs and it would be interesting to see how he embraces the challenge.

Expectations were sky-high Ravindra Jadeja heading into the tournament as he was in exceptional form in IPL 2021. However, the southpaw hasn’t been at his best in the global event. While he has played a couple of handy cameos, the left-arm spinner needs to do some talking with the ball as well.

Bowlers: Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Something’s really wrong with India’s bowling attack as the margin of their defeats were 10 wickets and 8 wickets respectively. Although Shardul Thakur replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar replaced in India’s last fixture, it didn’t help India much. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been able to restrict the run-flow.

However, his inability to pick wickets has hurt India big time. Hence, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who played his last T20I game in 2017, might come into the picture. Speedsters Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah haven’t been at their best either. However, the team management would back him considering their caliber and form in IPL 2021.

India’s Probable Playing XI for Afghanistan clash: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah