India vs Afghanistan Live Streaming: How To Watch IND vs AFG 1st T20I On TV And Online?

Team India will face a dangerous Afghanistan in the first ever white-ball series between the two teams, beginning in Mohali on Thursday.

The three-match series will be India's last before the T20 World Cup in June, giving the team more clarity on where it stands ahead of the ICC event in the Americas.

Head Coach Rahul Dravid on Wednesday admitted that Indian players will not get too many chances to play as a group ahead of the T20I World Cup, and said they needed to remain mentally flexible ahead of the marquee event in June.

“After the last T20I World Cup (2022) we prioritised the ODI World Cup. But we don’t have that many T20I games after that (ODI WC),” said Dravid in his pre-match conference.

"So, this T20I WC is slightly different in the sense that (there’s) not a lot of time to prepare for that. We have to rely on the cricket that we have and also a little bit on the IPL."

Dravid emphasised the need for players to remain adaptive in situations where they may not collectively get game time.

Some of the premier players like pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will not be playing the three-match T20I series against the Afghans.

“It is impossible for all the players to play all the time, especially for the players who are playing all the three formats. We had to prioritise what is important. Bumrah, Siraj and Jadeja have missed out from this series because keeping in mind the five-Test home series against England. So, we are always playing that juggling act a little bit over the last two years,” he said.

The focus will be on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as they are returning to the T20 format after a gap of 14 months. Virat Kohli will miss the first T20 International against Afghanistan owing to 'personal reasons', Dravid said on Wednesday.

The former India captain will be available for the next two matches, Dravid said, adding, "Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma will be opening the innings" for India in the series opener.

Rohit will be expected to carry on with his ultra-aggressive approach in the powerplay as he showed in the ODI World Cup.

India would be expected to win comfortably in their conditions but Afghanistan will give them a run for their money.

Having recently exceeded all expectations in their giant-killing run during the ODI World Cup in India, Afghanistan will be high on confidence in a format that suits them the most.

Barring Rashid's injury-forced absence, the team is at full strength after the likes of Mujeeb Zadran, Naveen-Ul Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi sorted their contractual issues with the country's cricket board.

The IND vs AFG 1st T20I match will be broadcast live on the Sports18 and Colors Cineplex channels in India.

JioCinema will livestream the India vs Afghanistan 1st T20I match on its app and website.

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar.

Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Qais Ahmad, Noor Ahmad/Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

(With PTI inputs)