Teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has retained his place in the Indian cricket team for the three-match series against Afghanistan in New Delhi from September 13 to 17.
Shreyas Iyer will continue to be the Indian T20 captain, with Tilak Varma serving as his deputy, while Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana headline the pace attack.
Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson returns after missing India’s tour of Zimbabwe in July, while spinner Varun Chakaravarthy is also back after an injury ruled him out of that series.
Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar have all been included subject to fitness clearance.
Sooryavanshi, 15, was one of India’s standout performers during their 3-0 T20I series sweep of Zimbabwe.
The left-hander became the youngest player to score a half-century in men’s T20 internationals with an 18-ball fifty in the series opener. He followed it up with 81 off 49 balls in the third T20I and was named Player of the Series.
India’s squad for the Afghanistan series features eight changes from the group that completed the Zimbabwe series.
Samson, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Chakaravarthy, Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana come into the squad.
Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav and Prabhsimran Singh miss out.
The 15-member squad is also identical to the one India named for the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, where the defending champions will be led by Shreyas Iyer.
The Afghanistan series will be India’s final T20I assignment before the Asian Games men’s cricket competition begins on September 24.
India will head into the series on the back of the 3-0 victory over Zimbabwe. The reigning T20 world champions are also the top-ranked team in the T20I rankings.
Afghanistan will be the designated home team for the series, despite all three matches being played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
The first India vs Afghanistan T20 will be played on September 13, followed by the second on September 15 and the third on September 17.
India squad for Afghanistan T20 series 2026
Indian national cricket team: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma (vc), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/afghanistan-vs-india-t20-2026-india-squad-player-list
