India v Afghanistan First T20: 9/1 and 6/1 top bat tips for Mohali

• Afghanistan trade possibility

• Flat wicket expected

• Varma too big at 6/17.00

India v Afghanistan
Thursday 11 January, 08.15
TV: Live on Sky Sports

India v Afghanistan First T20 team news

India had recalled Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, which immediately puts an x against their name as far as World T20 favouritism is concerned. But Kohli is now out for personal reasons. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Jadeja, Mohammad Shami and Suryakumar Yadav are unavailable. There's no Shreyas Iyer, either. Jitesh Sharma should take the gloves.

Possible XI: Rohit, Jaiswal/Gill, Varma, Samson, Rinku, Jitesh, Axar, Bishnoi, Arshdeep, Avesh, Mukesh

Afghanistan are without the injured Rashid Khan so Qais Ahmed should step in. Ibrahim Zadran leads. Their bowling stocks are strong with Noor Ahmad not making our XI. The same cannot be said of the batting. Two all-rounders from Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat and Sharafuddin Ashraf may step in.

Possible XI: Ibrahim, Gurbaz, Rahmat, Najibullah, Omarzai, Janat, Nabi, Mujeeb, Qais, Naveen, Farooqi

India v Afghanistan First T20 pitch report

Four times in five 2023 IPL matches more than 160 was busted. But three of those were more than 190 with Lucknow smashing 257 against Punjab. India's bowling looked pricey in the home series win against Australia, conceding more than 190 three times.

But prices for both teams to score 170 at 8/111.73 are not much fun. Instead we'd rather rely on India batting and look for slight odds-against for 190 or more.

India v Afghanistan First T20 match odds

India are no better than 1.171/6 with Afghanistan 6.4011/2. We're tempted by that Afghan price but we may keep our powder dry.

On a flat surface such as this they could suffer and their batting might not be able to keep pace. That could be a theme for the series with runfest potential at Indore and Bangalore.

The only way to consider them is for them to bat first and make use of a flat one. With a trade a couple of points could be shaved off with a fast start.

India v Afghanistan First T20 player bets

Rohit hasn't played for India in this format in the last 12 months so there may not be many takers of the 11/53.20 for top bat. There is value on recent form. Tilak Varma is a 4/15.00 chance in the last 12 months but is 6/17.00. He could bat at No 3. Rinku Singh has two wins in 14 and is 9/110.00.

For Afghanistan, Omarzai (two wins in11) is underrated in terms of batting position and ability at 9/110.00 while Mohammad Nabi (three wins in eight) is a strong option at 10/111.00. Omarzai is worth an interest as there is a gap for him up the order.

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