India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field against Afghanistan in the opening T20I of the three-match series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on September 13, 2026. Toss: India won the toss and opted to bowl first. Playing T20Is for the first time since the World Cup in February this year, Afghanistan had a new captain in Ibrahim Zadran but largely a similar set-up seven months ago. The returning Naveen-ul-Haq was not deemed match-ready. That being the case, Afghanistan were unchanged from their first-choice XI during the World Cup, leaving Azmatullah Omarzai as the second seamer behind Fazalhaq Farooqi. Opening Combination Decision: India opted for experience at the top of the order by bringing back Sanju Samson alongside Abhishek Sharma. As a result, 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missed out despite being named Player of the Series during India's recent T20I tour of Zimbabwe. Bowling Returns: Jasprit Bumrah made his return to international action alongside Varun Chakravarthy, joining Arshdeep Singh to lead the specialist attack. Batting Depth Prioritized: Allrounders Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Shivam Dube were included to share the remaining overs, leaving Washington Sundar on the sidelines. Playing XIs India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy. Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (capt), Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi.