New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) India won the toss and elected to bowl against Afghanistan in the second T20I of the three-game series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Hosts Afghanistan named an unchanged side for the fixture, while the Men in Blue were forced to make one change, bringing in Ravi Bishnoi for the injured Varun Chakaravarthy. India will look to seal the T20I series against Afghanistan, with the visitors needing a sharp turnaround after a one-sided opener.

Afghanistan’s long wait for international cricket ended in disappointing fashion as their batting collapsed early before Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi revived the innings. Their 83-run partnership lifted Afghanistan to 156, but the total proved modest once India’s top order got going.

Abhishek Sharma set the tone in the chase, smashing 82 from just 32 deliveries as India raced to the target at a remarkable rate. India’s bowling attack was equally influential, with Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy keeping Afghanistan’s batters under pressure before Arshdeep Singh finished with three wickets.

India, however, are without Chakaravarthy for the second game after a side strain ruled him out of the remainder of the series. His absence could test India’s bowling depth, particularly with Hardik Pandya also unavailable and the team still seeking reliable cover for the sixth bowler.

For Afghanistan, the challenge is straightforward- survive the new-ball threat, build a substantial total and make India’s powerful batting line-up work for every run. A response on Tuesday would not only level the contest but inject life into the series.

Winning the toss, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer said, “We are going to bowl first. You have a fair idea of how the wicket plays, and it gives the bowlers an idea, a little bit of an advantage. It wasn’t comprehensive because we could have won by a huge margin. As a bowling unit, we could have picked wickets in the middle. Varun is injured, and Ravi Bishnoi comes in.”

Meanwhile, Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said, “We would have bowled first as well. We want to play positive cricket; we didn’t get a good start that day, but we covered in the middle. We will try to do better tonight. We are playing the same XI.”

Playing XIs:

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, and Fazalhaq Farooqi

–IANS

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