India vs Afghanistan T20: The first T20 International match between India and Afghanistan to be held on September 13 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will be played as per the schedule. Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) made it clear on Thursday that there is no plan to postpone the match. Earlier, there were discussions about change in the schedule of the match due to the BRICS Summit to be held in Delhi. According to DDCA, a meeting has been held with Delhi Traffic Police and assurance has been given of necessary cooperation and arrangements for organizing the match. In such a situation, the first match of the three-match T20 series between India and Afghanistan will be held on September 13 only.
There was concern about traffic due to BRICS summit and cricket match.
BRICS summit is to be organized in Delhi on 12 and 13 September. During this time, India-Afghanistan match was also proposed in Arun Jaitley Stadium. On one hand, there will be VVIP and VIP movement for the summit, while on the other hand, a large number of spectators are expected to arrive to watch the match. For this reason, there were reports of Delhi Police advising to postpone the match. The concern regarding the traffic arrangement was that due to the simultaneous movement of VVIP movement during the summit and the movement of match spectators, the pressure on the roads of Central Delhi could increase. However, after the meeting between DDCA and Delhi Traffic Police, the situation has now become clear. DDCA has said that it has been assured of necessary cooperation and arrangements and the match will be held as per schedule.
First match on 13 September, next matches on 15 and 17
The three-match T20 series between India and Afghanistan will start from September 13. The first match will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. After this, the second T20 will be held on 15th September and the third match will be held on 17th September on the same ground. BCCI and Afghanistan Cricket Board had already confirmed the schedule of this series. In this series, the Indian team will be captained by Shreyas Iyer, while Tilak Verma is the vice-captain. The team includes players like Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dubey, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakraborty, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.
Harshit Rana is out, Yash Thakur got a chance
There has also been a change in the Indian team before the start of the series. Fast bowler Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the T20 series against Afghanistan and the 2026 Asian Games squad due to injury. Vidarbha fast bowler Yash Thakur has been included in his place. According to BCCI, Harshit Rana had complained of a strain in the rectus femoris while bowling during a match simulation on September 7. He was undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI Center of Excellence, but after this injury he was dropped from both the teams. 27-year-old Yash Thakur recently made his T20 International debut for India on the Zimbabwe tour. He had taken four wickets in two matches. Now he will get a chance to make his place in the series against Afghanistan.
Yash Thakur’s entry in Asian Games team also
Yash Thakur has been included not only for the T20 series against Afghanistan, but also in the Indian team for the 2026 Asian Games in place of Harshit Rana. Shreyas Iyer is the captain and Tilak Verma is the vice-captain in the updated team. With this change, both the Indian team’s first T20 match against Afghanistan and the preparations for the Asian Games have become a big opportunity for Yash Thakur.