India vs Afghanistan, 3rd T20I: Toss result and playing XIs for today's match, umpires list and pitch report

India will face Afghanistan in the third T20I of the three-match series at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, January 17. The Men in Blue have already clinched the series by winning the first two matches in Mohali and Indore by six wickets each. The hosts will now look to complete a whitewash in Bengaluru.

There have been some impressive performances by India both in batting and bowling. Shivam Dube has grabbed his opportunities with two cracking half-centuries. He has done a decent job with the ball as well. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also smashed a quick-fire fifty in Indore after missing the opening match. With the ball, left-arm spinner Axar Patel has been highly impressive.

The T20I series marked the comeback of seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to the format. The former is yet to open his account in the series, which will be cause of concern for India, especially the manner of his dismissal in the previous match. Kohli, however, looked good in Indore after missing the first game.

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Today's IND vs AFG toss result

India have won the toss and opted to bat first. Rohit Sharma said:

“We have bowled in the first two games, so we want to bat first. Nothing to do with the pitch. We want to try different things, different combinations.”

Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, and Jitesh Sharma miss out for the Men in Blue; Sanju Samson, Avesh Khan, and Kuldeep Yadav are in. Afghanistan have left out Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Fazalhaq Farooqi.

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IND vs AFG - Today's match playing XIs

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson (w), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Qais Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.

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Today's IND vs AFG pitch report

Nick Knight says that there are some cracks on the surface, but he reckons that it is pretty hard and firm. There’s a bit of covering of grass, so he feels it might be a bit two-paced. Overall, though, Knight believes that the pitch is a good one to bat on and score runs.

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Today's IND vs AFG match players list

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

Afghanistan squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Hazratullah Zazai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Qais Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Ikram Alikhil.

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IND vs AFG - Today's match umpires

On-field umpires: Jayaraman Madanagopal, Virender Sharma

TV umpire: Rohan Pandit

Match Referee: Javagal Srinath