India name 15 for Afghanistan T20Is with Bumrah subject to fitness

India have named a 15 man squad for the three T20I matches against Afghanistan in New Delhi this month, with Jasprit Bumrah included subject to fitness clearance. Shreyas Iyer will captain. Tilak Varma is vice-captain. The games are at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. They fall on 13, 15 and 17 September. Outlook India reported that the same 15 will represent India at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya later in the month.

Four names carry a fitness caveat

Bumrah is one of four players listed as subject to clearance. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana are the others. Outlook India reported that Bumrah is coming back from a knee injury picked up during the ODI series in England.

That is a quarter of the squad waiting on a medical sign-off eleven days before the first match. Three of the four are bowlers. If the caveats do not clear, India's pace stocks in Delhi come down to Arshdeep Singh and the medium pace of Shivam Dube.

The batting order behind Iyer

Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan are both in as wicketkeepers. Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Shivam Dube fill out the batting. Varun Chakaravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi are the specialist spinners.

Republic World reported the selection as a comeback for both Bumrah and Samson, with Hardik Pandya left out again. That leaves Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar as the all-round options in the squad. Both are among the four subject to clearance.

• Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shivam Dube
• Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper)
• Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
• Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi

Delhi in September, then Aichi-Nagoya

The Asian Games cricket event runs in Japan. The same squad is down to travel. Three T20Is in five days in Delhi, then a flight to Aichi-Nagoya, is a heavy fortnight for a squad already carrying four fitness questions.

Crickslab reported on 29 August that the BCCI had flagged the cricket facilities being prepared in Japan for the Games.

All three T20Is are at a single venue, which keeps domestic travel to a minimum. The gap after 17 September is the tight part of the calendar. Any player who fails a fitness check in Delhi becomes a doubt for Japan as well.

Selection after two lost series

The ICC noted that India come into this series after losing 0-2 in Ireland and 0-4 in England. They remain the holders of the men's T20 World Cup. Most of the squad that played those two tours has been retained.

Iyer therefore takes charge of a side that has not won a completed T20I series on its last two tours. He gets three matches in Delhi to change that. Then the same players go to Japan.