The Indian cricket team is poised to play a limited-overs series against Afghanistan later next month. Talks had taken place of a potential series, which was later jeopardized due to India’s busy schedule. But it looks like a second-string Indian side will take part instead of cancellation.
India will be taking on Australia in the WTC 2023 Final which starts from June 7 to 11. Then they have a huge assignment at West Indies as the team flies to play 2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is which start from July 12.
And to lessen the workload of key players ahead of World Cup 2023, BCCI looks likely to rest senior players. The likes of India captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli will be rested for the Afghan series, and looks like Hardik Pandya will be handed over the captaincy.
The Indian board is also thinking of resting Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, who have had a busy last two or three months due to India and IPL duties.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board president Mirwais Ashraf will be attending the IPL 2023 Final on Sunday (May 28) after BCCI’s invitation. There will be a meeting regarding the Asia Cup dispute, whereas the boards may hold a talk regarding the bilateral series as well.
Afghanistan have previously played India in a one-off Test series in 2018. But this may well be their first bilateral white-ball series against India in history.
BCCI also wants to look out for potential emerging stars in the Afghan series as top performers in IPL look poised to get a national call-up. Players like Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel can be in contention for international debut if BCCI plans for a second-string team.
