Vaibhav Sooryavanshi omitted from India playing XI for Afghanistan T20I

India omitted 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from the playing XI for the first T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Sanju Samson returned to the squad and opened the batting with Abhishek Sharma. India won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Jasprit Bumrah returned from injury and claimed an early wicket on his comeback. Shreyas Iyer captained a full-strength side that included the return of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Varun Chakravarthy. Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said his team had prepared specific plans for Sooryavanshi.

The three-match series serves as preparation for India's upcoming Asian Games campaign. Sooryavanshi had been player of the series in India's preceding T20I series against Zimbabwe.