Rain threat looms over India-Afghanistan first T20I in Delhi

India and Afghanistan will play the first T20I of their series today, September 13, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, with the match starting at 7:30 pm. Afghanistan are hosts for this series, and the BCCI has made the Arun Jaitley Stadium Afghanistan's home ground for it. However, the threat of rain before the match has raised concerns.

According to AccuWeather, there is a 20 percent chance of rain in New Delhi after 7 pm. There is also a fair chance of rain a few hours earlier, which could worsen the condition of the field. Delhi is expected to have 44 percent cloud cover, with temperatures likely to range between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius.

As for the pitch, the one at Arun Jaitley Stadium is considered good for batting. The stadium is small in size with large boundaries, which makes scoring runs easier. The pitch offers good bounce, which can also help fast bowlers to some extent in the early overs.

The match will be broadcast live on Sony Sports Network channels in various languages. Fans can also watch it online on the FanCode app.

India and Afghanistan have played nine T20Is against each other since 2010. India have dominated the head-to-head, winning seven matches. Of the remaining two, one was washed out while the other ended in a tie, which India won in the Super Over. According to the records, Afghanistan have never beaten India in a T20I.

The Indian squad is as follows: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar and Yash Thakur.