Team India captain Rohit Sharma amusingly forgot the players absent from the playing eleven for the ongoing first T20I match against Afghanistan on Thursday (11th January).
The hosts won the toss after eleven games with three different captains recently, and Rohit chose to chase first against Afghanistan in what marks the first bilateral series between the two countries. Interestingly, Rohit resumed his role as the T20I captain of India after a hiatus of 14 months.
"I wasn't in the team for the entire last year, but I've been talking to Rahul bhai about what we are doing and understand what we need to do as a group. Winning is the most important thing. Sanju (Samson), Avesh (Khan), (Yashasvi) Jaiswal (who didn't pull up well)... and Kuldeep are not playing," Rohit told Kartik, who was conducting the toss with the two captains and the match referee.
He underwent an extended pause while attempting to remember the third player excluded from the playing XI, eventually recalling Kuldeep Yadav's name. This incident represents another occasion where Rohit Sharma has drawn a blank during the toss. Last year, he forgot his decision after winning the toss against New Zealand in an ODI held in Raipur.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is not playing the match due to personal reasons, while skipper Rohit has returned to T20Is after more than a year. Star Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan is also not playing in the series.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahma
- Rohit Sharma