India will have to quickly decide on their team combination as they launch their ICC World Twenty20 campaign against minnows Afghanistan here tomorrow, hoping to get into the groove for the tougher battles ahead.u00a0 A win will ensure a Super Eights berth for champions of the 2007 edition even before they take on England in their second and final group league match on September 23. In their only meeting till date, India had comfortably beaten Afghanistan by seven wickets during the last edition of World T20 in the West Indies. While the battle of attrition will start once India take on England, a smooth start against the Afghans will certainly help the &#39;Men in Blue&#39; hit a good rhythm and the team management will have an idea about the performance of their preferred combination. <img alt="MS DHoni, gautam Gambhir and Duncan Fletcher" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2012/sep/Dhoni-gambhir-fletcher.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 686px; " /> Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C) chats with teammate Gautam Gambhir (L) as coach Duncan Fletcher (R) watches during a training session in Colombo on Tuesday. Pic/AFPu00a0 The Indians are faced with the dilemma of whether to go in with five specialist bowlers or opt for the additional batsman, considering that bowling in the death overs has been a worry. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not someone who is known to tinker with the playing XI and believes in giving his preferred players a long rope. In fact, he has indicated that he would go in with four specialist bowlers and rely on his part-timers to fill in the fifth bowler&#39;s quota. But if the part-timers do not perform upto expectation, he is willing to go in with five specialist bowlers. The batting order looks more or less settled with seasoned opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, solid middle-order consisting of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni himself, it will be interesting to see what kind of bowling combination Dhoni-Fletcher pair use. While pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan are two automatic selections, there is a strong case for seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji who has had some good performances in this format in the Indian Premier League. Balaji has a lot of variety and is an effective bowler at the death overs, though he went for runs in the warm-up game against Pakistan. Of late, the nature of the 22-yard strip at the R Premadasa Stadium has undergone a change and the faster bowlers have been getting a lot of help. Therefore, if India go onto play three seamers, it will again be a toss-up between in-form Ravichandran Ashwin and comeback man Harbhajan Singh. Ashwin having done well in recent times is the front-runner in case India play four bowlers. The fifth bowler if need be can be anyone amongst Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma. As far as batting is concerned both Sehwag and Gambhir didn&#39;t have a good time against New Zealand and an unfancied Afghanistan attack is just the stuff they need to find some form going their way. All eyes will be on India&#39;s &#39;man of the moment&#39;, Kohli who has been in stupendous form in all three formats. Kohli, who has deservingly won the ICC&#39;s &#39;ODI Cricketer of the Year&#39; award, will like to showcase his wide range of strokes in the shortest format. Yuvraj, who gave an impressive account during his comeback match after surviving a rare germ-cell cancer, will be keen on winning a few matches on his own just like he made the difference in the inaugural edition of the tournament, especially against England and Australia. <img alt="Nawroz Mangal" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2012/sep/afghanistan-training.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 520px; " /> Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal (L) stretches with a teammates during a training session in Colombo on Tuesday. Pic/AFP Skipper Dhoni has been one of India&#39;s premier limited overs player and one would expect that he doesn&#39;t keep it for too late as he did and paid the price against New Zealand. However, Dhoni provided glimpses of his destructive ability during his innings of 55 off 42 balls during warm-up game against Sri Lanka. Suresh Raina is also a destructive player in this format, while Rohit Sharma, who returned to form with a 40-ball 56 against Pakistan in the second warm-up match, will be happy to continue the momentum after a horrible series against Sri Lanka. Teams (from): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashok Dinda, L Balaji, Piyush Chawla. Afghanistan: Nawroz Mangal (capt), Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbodin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Izatullah Dawlatzai, Javed Ahmadi, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nasim Baras, Samiullah Shenwari, Shafiqullah, Shapoor Zadran. u00a0

Getting the team combination right will be the main focus for India when they take on Afghanistan in their opening encounter of World Twenty20.

World T20: India hope to start with a bang against minnows Afghanistan

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World T20: India hope to start with a bang against minnows Afghanistan

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