Asian Games: Full-strength India open gold medal defence against second-string Afghanistan
Nisshin, Sep 27 (IANS) A near-full-strength Indian team will be facing a wounded second-string Afghanistan side in the second quarterfinal of the cricket event at the ongoing Asian Games 2026 on Monday at the Korogi Sports Park. With the gold medal defence on the line, India have opted to send their first-choice T20I team for the continental showpiece, meaning some ODI regulars will miss the simultaneous ODI series against the West Indies at home, which begins on Sunday. Not only as the defending gold medallists, but India also come into this showpiece as reigning double T20 World champions, something which wasn't the case when they sent a second-string side under Ruturaj Gaikwad for the Hangzhou Games in 2023. During this time, they have set batting benchmarks which are hard to replicate for even the best of the sides. And now they have a teenage sensation in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi making an impact in his initial days. On the other side is a second-string Afghanistan side playing under 33 T20I-capped Darwish Rasooli, with mostly new faces. They came into the quarterfinal on the back of a win against Japan and a loss against Nepal in the group stage and did not qualify as Group A toppers; rather, they were the second-placed side in the league stage. They were hammered by Nepal in their second game and now will face a much stronger Indian side, which on paper is no match for this Afghanistan side. However, things haven't been very simple for India in Japan. They were recently given a major scare in the rain-hit one-off T20I against Japan when they managed to put 32/4 in five overs and scraped through with a two-run win. The Men in Blue would have to adapt to the conditions as soon as possible, as they were left embarrassed when they failed to do it earlier in Ireland and England, where they lost all six completed T20Is. Eyes will also be on the playing combinations as it seems that Sanju Samson will continue opening with Abhishek Sharma after two half-centuries against Afghanistan, which means Sooryavanshi might have to wait for his hit in Japan. It would also be interesting to see if and when Jasprit Bumrah takes the field after being benched for the Japan T20I. When: Monday, Sep 28, 10 AM IST Where: Korogi Sports Park, Nisshin Where to watch: The match will be shown live on the Sony Sports Network, while the live streaming will be available on the Sony LIV app and website. Squads: India: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Afghanistan: Darwish Rasooli (c), Abdullah Ahmadzai, Mohammad Akram, Ismat Alam, Faridoon Dawoodzai, Hassan Eisakhil, Mohammad Ishaq, Karim Janat, Faisal Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Imran Mir, Arab Gul Momand, Farmanullah Safi, Khalid Taniwal, Najibullah Zadran --IANS vm/bc
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