India opt to bowl against Afghanistan in first T20I

India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl against Afghanistan in the opening T20 International here on Sunday.

India handed Sanju Samson the wicketkeeper-batter's spot ahead of teenage batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, while premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah returned to the playing XI.

Bumrah had missed India's recent assignments after a left-knee injury ruled him out of an ODI in England and two Tests in Sri Lanka.

India also picked specialist spinner Varun Chakaravarthy over seamer Yash Thakur.

"We've played quite a lot of matches here and looking at the conditions, we can bowl first. We had lots of positives from the Zimbabwe series and that's the attitude we'll carry," Iyer said after winning the toss.

Welcoming Bumrah's return, the skipper said his presence was a major boost for the side.

"It's a luxury to have him (Bumrah) in the squad -- he carries a lot of great attitude when it comes to winning matches," Iyer said.

He added that Sooryavanshi and Washington Sundar were among the players left out, along with two other members of the squad.

Teams:

India: Sanju Samson (w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi.