India Announce Squad for Afghanistan T20I Series, Shreyas Iyer to Lead From September 13

India have announced their squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, with Shreyas Iyer continuing as captain and Tilak Varma retained as his deputy.

The series will be played entirely at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, beginning on September 13, with the second and third T20Is following on September 15 and 17. It comes at a crucial time for India, arriving just days before the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, where cricket returns as a T20 medal event from September 24. The series will give the team management a final opportunity to fine-tune combinations before that continental assignment.

India's squad: 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* (* subject to fitness)

The squad carries several names through from India's recent T20I assignments, with teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continuing to build on his maiden call-up earlier this year. Frontline pacer Jasprit Bumrah is included but listed subject to fitness, alongside all-rounder Washington Sundar, batter Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacer Harshit Rana. It will be just the second bilateral T20I series between the two nations, following India's 3-0 sweep of Afghanistan across Mohali, Indore and Bengaluru in January 2024.