Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi Series: Afghanistan tour of India, 2026
A Historic First for Afghanistan
For the first time in international cricket, Afghanistan will host India — and fittingly, this “home” fixture is taking place right in the heart of Delhi, a city that has long welcomed people of every background. Just a few kilometres from the stadium lies Lajpat Nagar, an area with a thriving Afghan community running restaurants, shops and businesses, giving the tie an unusual home-away-from-home feel for the visitors-turned-hosts.
On the field, though, there will be nothing sentimental about Afghanistan’s approach. They haven’t played a T20I since their World Cup campaign in February, and under a new captain, they’ll see this series as a genuine opportunity to finally beat India — the only Full Member nation they have never defeated in international cricket.
Form and Context
India arrive at this series in a slightly shaky patch of form. Since winning the T20 World Cup, they’ve dropped series in Ireland and England, though a win in Zimbabwe offered some reassurance. Encouragingly for India, they are close to full strength for this series, with Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy both returning. Only Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana are unavailable through injury.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, welcome back seamer Naveen-ul-Haq after his World Cup injury layoff. Their squad otherwise stays largely settled, with the core group that reached the World Cup remaining intact. Having already lost a Test and all three ODIs to India earlier this year on Indian soil, Afghanistan will be desperate to salvage some pride with a maiden T20I win over their opponents.
Key Storylines
Rashid Khan’s resurgence: After a relatively quiet IPL couple of seasons with the ball, Rashid Khan appears to be finding his rhythm again. No longer Afghanistan’s captain, he can focus purely on leading the bowling attack with his experience — and he has fond memories of this very ground, having picked up figures of 3 for 17 here in an IPL game for Gujarat Titans.
Shreyas Iyer’s selection headache: India’s stand-in captain faces one of the toughest calls of the series — picking two openers from three genuine claimants: Sanju Samson (Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Player of the Series in Zimbabwe) and Abhishek Sharma. Whoever gets the nod, Iyer will also want to lead from the front with the bat, having already presided over India’s first series defeat in three years.
Probable XIs
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (capt), Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi/Naveen-ul-Haq
India: Two of Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson; Ishan Kishan (wk); Shreyas Iyer (capt); Tilak Varma; Axar Patel; Washington Sundar; Nitish Kumar Reddy; Arshdeep Singh; Jasprit Bumrah; Varun Chakravarthy
Afghanistan’s main balancing act is over their seam attack — whether to pick both Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq alongside Azmatullah Omarzai, which would likely mean benching one of Mujeeb Ur Rahman or Noor Ahmad. India’s headache is at No. 8, where they must choose between a pure bowler and a batting allrounder, having gone with different balances in England and Zimbabwe.
Pitch Report: Expect Runs
The Arun Jaitley Stadium hasn’t traditionally been the fastest-scoring venue on the IPL circuit, but even in a middling season it still leaked close to 9.6 runs an over. Combined with relatively short boundaries, conditions should favour batters unless there’s early moisture or seam movement on offer at the start of the innings. With the monsoon largely done in northern India, there’s no serious threat to the game from weather, and any lingering cloud cover shouldn’t be enough to trouble a night match.
Bottom line: This should be a batting-friendly surface with a small chance of early assistance for seamers under lights. Teams winning the toss will likely look to bowl first and chase, using dew as a factor later in the innings, though this depends on how much the surface holds up.
Prediction: Who Wins?
On paper, India go into this game as favourites. They have the deeper batting line-up, more firepower with the ball following Bumrah and Varun’s return, and a recent head-to-head record against Afghanistan that remains unbeaten across formats. Afghanistan’s threat is concentrated heavily around Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and their spin-heavy attack, which could trouble India on a used Delhi surface, but the batting depth gap between the two sides is still significant.
Given India’s overall squad strength and their unbeaten record against Afghanistan, India start as clear favourites for the first T20I, though Afghanistan’s spin trio and home comforts in Delhi give them a real chance of springing an upset, especially if they can restrict India cheaply and put early scoreboard pressure on a batting order still finding its combinations.
Squads, form and pitch details compiled from pre-match reporting ahead of the 1st T20I at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
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