India’s depth takes centrestage as Afghanistan fight to avoid whitewash

Big picture: India gunning for 3-0

If this ODI series is a test of India’s depth, in the absence of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, they have aced it by wrapping up the three-match rubber with one game to go in Chennai on June 20. Ishan Kishan has seamlessly slotted back into the ODI side, cracking 125 off 79 balls amid Lucknow’s inhospitable heat on Wednesday. Beanpole fast bowler Gurnoor Brar, who was picked on potential, ahead of more experienced domestic performers has translated that into performance, claiming a chart-topping six wickets across two matches.

Left-arm fingerspinner Harsh Dubey played his part on debut in a rain-hit 25-over shootout in Dharamsala. Prince Yadav was denied Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s wicket in his third over in Lucknow because of a front-foot no-ball, but he overcame that early setback to help India wrap up the series on Wednesday.

Form guide

India: WWLLW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
Afghanistan: LLWWW

Shubman Gill continues to do Shubman Gill things with the bat, following up his unbeaten 84 off 66 balls in the first ODI as an opener with 154 off 110 balls from No.3 in the second game. Ominous signs for Afghanistan: India’s captain wants to bat deeper into the innings and is hungry for more runs. The hosts are poised to sweep Afghanistan 3-0 unless Gurbaz or Rashid Khan intervene and produce something special.

Team news: Reddy likely to return to action

After missing the Lucknow ODI with a sore thigh, seam-bowling allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled without apparent discomfort at the Chepauk nets on Friday and could return to action in the third ODI on Saturday. Yashasvi Jaiswal could get another game to prove his ODI chops after falling cheaply on Wednesday. With the series already in the bag, Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, said that they will lean towards experimenting with their combination.

Harshit Rana has been added to the squad for the third ODI, having recovered from knee surgery, but India are unlikely to rush him back to top-flight cricket. His last international appearance was in February earlier this year. India might have to make a choice between the left-arm fingerspin of Dubey and the left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav.

India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill (capt), 4 Ishan Kishan (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer/ KL Rahul, 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Kuldeep Yadav/Harsh Dubey, 9 Gurnoor Brar, 10 & 11 Two among Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana

If Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai have recovered from illness and injury respectively, they will slot back into Afghanistan’s XI. John Mooney, the Afghanistan fielding coach, said that both players are being monitored and that they are not far away from returning to action. The visitors did not train at Chepauk on the eve of the game.

Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Rahmat Shah, 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt) (capt), 6 Mohammad Nabi/Darwish Rasooli, 7 Azmatullah Omarzai/Bilal Sami, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Nangeyala Kharoti, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Mohammad Saleem

In the spotlight: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rashid Khan

Yashasvi Jaiswal will be a shoo-in at the top for most other white-ball international teams in the world. But India are not most other teams. They are so stacked with top-order options that they had to leave Jaiswal on the sidelines after the opener had just hit an unbeaten 116 against a South Africa attack that included Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj in Vizag last December. Friday is another chance for him to stay in the selection frame in the run-up to the 2027 ODI World Cup.

In an IPL that was unkind to spinners, Rashid Khan stood out for Gujarat Titans and came away as the only spinner among the top-ten wicket-takers in the 2026 season. Rashid held his own even on a flat track in Lucknow, where India piled up 402, but Afghanistan need a lot more from their spin ace, especially with their rookie spinner AM Ghazanfar yet to find his groove in this series.

Pitch and conditions

Friday’s fixture is set to be played on pitch no. 4, a red-soil surface, which generally offers substantial bounce. There were some showers in Chennai two days out of the game, but the weather was clear on the eve of the match. Another hot afternoon could prompt multiple drinks breaks, as was the case in Lucknow, and test players’ fitness on match day.

Stats and Trivia

• Gurnoor Brar is only the second Indian bowler after Piyush Chawla to take three or more wickets in their first two men’s ODIs. Chawla took three wickets in each of his first three ODIs.
• Kishan’s ODI strike rate of 107.69 after 29 games is the third highest for India behind Yusuf Pathan (113.60) and Hardik (110.89).
• Afghanistan have faced India six times in ODI cricket, with their best result being a tie in Dubai at the 2018 Asia Cup.

Quotes

The India A set-up is obviously a big thing for me. If we perform in the Ranji Trophy, we get picked for India A, Duleep Trophy or the Irani Cup. When I got the call-up for India A, I was very happy.
Gurnoor Brar on his road to the India senior side

From a bowling point of view, we’ve bowled too many boundary balls, so we need to figure out what the right length is. In the last game, it was really poor bowling at times and quality players will put it away. We also lost wickets in pairs and didn’t have partnerships.
Afghanistan fielding coach John Mooney on the team’s troubles across the board