New Delhi: The Indian team has been announced for the 3-match T20I series against Afghanistan. All the matches of this series to be held between 13 to 17 September will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Many major changes have been made in the team as compared to the previous Zimbabwe series. A total of 8 players have got a place in the team, while 8 players have been left out.

8 players including Rinku Singh are out

Rinku Singh is the most talked about player among the players who were dropped from the team. He got a chance to bat in two innings against Zimbabwe, where he scored 37 runs at a strike rate of 168.8. Despite this, he could not gain the trust of the selectors for the Afghanistan series. Apart from Rinku, Suryansh Shedge, Harsh Dubey, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav and Prabhsimran Singh have also been dropped from the team.

Sanju Samson is back

One of the most important changes for the Afghanistan series is the return of Sanju Samson. After not getting a place in the Zimbabwe tour team, the wicketkeeper-batsman has now been included in the team again. Due to his return, Prabhsimran Singh could not get a place in the team.

Entry of 8 players including Varun Chakraborty

Apart from Sanju Samson, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akshar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakraborty, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh have been included in the team. The return of Varun Chakraborty, who was out of the last series due to injury, is considered special.

Iyer became captain, Tilak vice-captain

Shreyas Iyer will continue to captain the team, while Tilak Verma will take on the role of vice-captain. Players like Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ishan Kishan and Shivam Dubey are also included in the team.

However, the final playing of Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana will depend on their fitness clearance. This team also matches the Indian contingent selected for the 2026 Asian Games.