IND vs AFG 1st T20I: "The team has a plan for Rohit and Virat", says head coach Trott

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott (Pic: ICC)

Ahead of the IND vs AFG 1st T20I, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said that the team has a plan to deal with star Indian batsmen like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Both of the star players will play their first T20I game after a gap of 14 months. They last featured in India's T20I squad against England in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Keeping in mind the 2024 T20 World Cup, India will be keen to have the quality of both batsmen in the team.

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The Afghanistan series will be the last T20I series for India before the start of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

"Any side that India selects is strong. Add to that the likes of Rohit and Virat, and they have been world-class players for a while. We are fortunate enough to have players who have played quite a lot of cricket against them in the IPL. The other guys have watched them on TV, so there will definitely be some plans for them. It's about executing those plans and making sure that on the day we are ready to do that," Trott told JioCinema.

Afghanistan would need to pull out their A game against the hosts in their maiden tour of India. Trott stated that in order to stay ahead of the Men in Blue, they need to be better in all three aspects of the game.

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"We need to be better in all three facets of the game. We need to win those key moments under pressure. That's what today's practice is all about, so that players are ready to perform whenever they get the opportunity to make an impact in a game," Trott added.

Virat Kohli has opted out of the first T20I faceoff with Afghanistan due to personal reasons. Head Coach Rahul Dravid confirmed the news in the pre-match press conference.

The first T20I clash will be played in Mohali on Thursday, the second match is scheduled on January 14 in Indore and the final T20I match will be played in Bengaluru on January 17.

IND vs AFG 1st T20I squads:

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar

Afghanistan squad: Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmaullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan.