🏏India vs Afghanistan, 3rd T20I - MCS Stadium, Bengaluru 🏏

🏏India vs Afghanistan, 3rd T20I - M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on 17/01/2024 at 7 PM IST 🏏

Expect big runs in T20I series finale, but don't go looking for World Cup answers

It's India last T20I game before the World Cup, but the tournament is only in June and there's a whole IPL to get out of the way firstIt has been nearly five years since India lost a bilateral men's T20I series at home. They have won 13 in that time, and drawn two.

It's a proud record, and it must mean a lot to India's players and coaching staff, but what does it actually mean in an attention economy devoted to the ICC event cycle? In one vocal and hard-to-please corner of social media, Sunday's series-sealing six-wicket win against Afghanistan was notable chiefly for India's refusal to bat first after winning the toss. They hadn't challenged themselves enough, and to not challenge yourself with a T20 World Cup imminent is, well, unpardonable.

That T20 World Cup is now even more imminent. The series finale in Bengaluru is India's last T20I before that tournament. That tournament, however, is still nearly five months - and an entire IPL season - away.

Bengaluru, then, occupies a strange and hard-to-categorise space. It is both a crucial game in the lead-up to a global tournament and a dead-rubber match far removed from any event of real significance. If it is to mean anything at all, that meaning may only become apparent months from now.

How much simpler it must be, then, to merely play the game, and truly live it one ball at a time.

India vs Afghanistan Pitch Report

The surface at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is a batter’s paradise. T20 games at this venue have frequently seen 200+ totals as the batters make the best use of the shorter boundaries. Spinners don’t get much assistance here as compared to the pacers but a high-scoring game can be expected.

India vs Afghanistan Weather Report

The weather conditions in Bengaluru will be clear throughout the match on January 17. The temperature will remain around 25 degrees Celsius at the start of the play and will drop to 20 degrees towards the end of the game.

In the spotlight

Axar Patel has had a terrific series with the ball, and Washington Sundar a tidy one, and while neither has had a chance to bat as yet, the presence of two spin-bowling allrounders at Nos. 7 and 8 enabled India's top order to bat with freedom in the first two T20Is. Conditions in the West Indies - and possibly the USA - may allow India to use this combination during the T20 World Cup, and the flat pitch and short boundaries of Bengaluru will give them another chance to pressure-test it.

Afghanistan's lack of batting firepower has often stopped them from turning their bowlers' good work into wins against top teams. Their hopes of breaking their T20I duck against India may, therefore, rest on the shoulders of their most dangerous top-order batter. While India shackled Rahmanullah Gurbaz successfully in Mohali, he threatened to break free in Indore, where he rushed to 14 off eight balls before he mishit Ravi Bishnoi to mid-on. Afghanistan will hope Gurbaz can turn those signs of rhythm into a meaningful contribution.

Stats and trivia

• Mohammad Nabi is 67 runs away from becoming the second Afghanistan batter to score 2000 in T20Is
• Nabi (98) and Najibullah Zadran (95) are closing in on 100 sixes in T20Is
• Axar needs one wicket to become the ninth India bowler to 50 in T20Is
• Of India players with at least 200 T20I runs, Rinku Singh (176.07), Yashasvi Jaiswal (163.81) and Shivam Dube (149.45) have three of the four best strike rates. Suryakumar Yadav (171.55) is the other member of the top four

Team News:

India: With the series wrapped up already, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav and Avesh Khan could be in for an opportunity. Kuldeep and Avesh spent a lot of time bowling in the nets on the eve of the fixture.

Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma/Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar/Avesh Khan

Afghanistan: Mujeeb Ur Rahman made a good start to the series in Mohali but was taken for a lot of runs in Indore. Afghanistan have the impressive leggie Qais Ahmad on the bench, but the presence of three big-hitting left-handers (Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh) in India's top-six could discourage them from bringing him in.

Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran (c), Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Did you know:

- Since 2017, pacers have picked 32 wickets and spinners 15. The last fixture here however saw Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi dictate terms as India successfully defended 160.

- Since 2022, Virat Kohli has scored 781 runs in 20 T20I innings at a strike rate of 138.23. During this period, Kohli hit his highly-anticipated 71st international century - against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup.

- In the same period, Rahmanullah Gurbaz has 653 runs in 28 innings at a strike rate of 136.89. He too has a century to his name.

What they said:

"I think we've played some good cricket in parts. But there's also times where we perhaps haven't been as good as we expect from ourselves. We're hoping to get closer to good 40 overs from ourselves tomorrow and be able to put some pressure on the Indian side, specially in the middle overs with the ball. It's something we've got to get better at if we want to compete in the World Cup." - Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott.

"As bowlers we feel we have nothing to lose here [Chinnaswamy stadium]. The batters are under pressure to score more and more boundaries. That's where as a bowler you're in the game and you can get more wickets as well." - Arshdeep Singh.

Thank you, Raji, for the thread and for tagging me. 

Though the result is not important, Let us hope that the match will provide us some record-breaking batting and bowling. 

Focus On Rohit Sharma As India Eye Series Sweep vs Afghanistan

Team India eye a series-sweep as they take on Afghanistan in the third and final T20I at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. India took an unassailable 2-0 in the series last week after registering a six-wicket win in the second T20I in Indore. Virat Kohli returned to T20I action with a brisk knock while Shivam Dube notched up his second half-century in as many games to help India seal the series. However, India captain Rohit Sharma's struggles continued as he was dismissed on a duck for the second game in a row.

India vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head

India and Afghanistan have crossed swords in seven T20Is, with the former being unbeaten in the format against the latter with six wins to their name.

Matches Played: 7

India: 6

Afghanistan: 0

N/R: 1