AFG vs IND 2026: Why is Varun Chakravarthy not playing in the 2nd T20I?

Afghanistan take on India in the second T20I of the three-match series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, September 15. The Indian side sealed a seven-wicket victory with a complete performance with both bat and ball. They will be looking to continue the same form, while the Afghan side will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing result.

India were dealt a significant blow when it was announced that Varun Chakravarthy had been ruled out of the rest of the series. The BCCI confirmed that Chakravarthy was ruled out with a side strain and would be departing to the Centre of Excellence for his rehab. The injury also puts his participation in the Asian Games in jeopardy, with a timeline for his return yet to be confirmed.

AFG vs IND, 2nd T20I: Toss Update

Shreyas Iyer won the toss once more for India and elected to field first. He stated that the team could have been better as a bowling unit in the middle overs, and lauded the batters for their exemplary innings. Afghanistan's Ibrahim Zadran also expressed his desire to field first and wanted to set the platform with the bat, which they failed to do in the previous match, using the powerplay better.

AFG vs IND, 2nd T20I: Why is Chakravarthy not playing?

Chakravarthy, who has been ruled out with a side strain, is the only exclusion from India's side. Leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi comes into the side for Chakravarthy. Afghanistan are unchanged, playing the same lineup from the previous match.

AFG vs IND, 2nd T20I: Playing XIs

Afghanistan

Ibrahim Zadran(c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

India

Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi

AFG vs IND, 2nd T20I: What did the captains say?

Ibrahim Zadran, Afghanistan captain, said,

"Again, I would say that if I had won the toss, I would have wanted to bowl first. Unfortunately, we lost it again, so now we’ll focus on the batting department and look at how we can execute our plans well according to the conditions. Yeah, exactly. We’ve thought about it. We want to play positive cricket, and we’ve come here with positive intent. Yes, we had a good start that day, but we lost a few wickets in the middle overs. We’ll try to play better cricket today, have a good start in the powerplay, and put a good total on the board. We are going with the same team."

Shreyas Iyer, India Captain, said,

 "We are going to bowl first. Talking about calling tails, it has been lucky for me for the last couple of matches irrespective of the result. Well, you have a fair idea about how the wicket plays. It's important for the bowlers to adapt as quickly as they can. So, once you know the pace of the wicket, you know how it's going to play. So, it becomes a bit of an advantage. Yeah absolutely. It wasn't a comprehensive victory though we won it by a huge margin. At one stage, it could have been a big win but Azmat and Nabi batted really well. They added up a crucial partnership. Kudos to them. As a bowling group, we could've got a few more wickets in that middle phase.