There’s something a little unusual about this one before a ball is even bowled: Afghanistan are officially the “home” team for this India vs Afghanistan T20I series 2026, yet every game is being played in Delhi. It’s part of how Afghanistan’s Future Tours Programme commitments work out on paper, but on the ground, this is going to feel like a full-blooded India home series — right down to the crowd, the conditions, and the noise level every time an Indian batter walks out.
For a rivalry that’s grown up almost entirely in the T20 era, that contradiction feels oddly fitting. Afghanistan have never had the luxury of a settled “home,” having played most of their international cricket in the UAE, India, or wherever circumstances allowed. So a series technically credited to them, but staged in Delhi, is really just business as usual for a team that’s had to build its cricketing identity on the road.
The basics
Three T20Is, all at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, starting September 13 and wrapping up on September 17. Shreyas Iyer leads India, Ibrahim Zadran leads Afghanistan. That’s really the headline, and everything else below fills in the detail of the India vs Afghanistan T20 schedule, squads, venue conditions, and what each side needs from this series.
Full India vs Afghanistan T20 2026 schedule
| Match | Date | Venue | Time (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st T20I | September 13, 2026 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | 7:00 PM |
| 2nd T20I | September 15, 2026 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | 7:00 PM |
| 3rd T20I | September 17, 2026 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | 7:00 PM |
No city-hopping this time — all three games at the same ground, all three under lights. That’s actually a meaningful detail for both camps: teams that play a full series at one venue tend to make faster in-series adjustments, because there’s no need to re-read a fresh pitch and outfield every couple of days. Whoever figures out the Delhi surface first in Match 1 has a real chance to carry that read into Match 2 and Match 3.
India vs Afghanistan live streaming: where to watch
If you’re not going to be at the stadium, FanCode has the streaming rights, on both the app and the website, so you can catch every ball on your phone or laptop. If you’re on DD Free Dish, DD Sports will carry it live too, which is good news if you’d rather watch on the big screen without a subscription. Given that all three matches start at 7:00 PM IST, expect the bulk of the cricket — powerplays through to the business end of the chase — to fall in prime evening viewing hours.
India squad 2026 for the Afghanistan series
Iyer captains, with Tilak Varma as his deputy. The full 15 is: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson (both keeping options), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.
A few things worth flagging here. Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar are all in the squad, but their spots aren’t fully locked in yet — each still needs fitness clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence before the series gets going. See our full Jasprit Bumrah fitness update for the latest before the first T20I. Samson is back in the mix after being in and out of the XI for a while, and Chakravarthy returns having recovered from the hamstring niggle he picked up during the England T20Is. Hardik Pandya isn’t in the squad at all; he’s still working his way back from injury, which leaves India a little light on genuine seam-bowling all-rounder options at number six or seven.
That said, the squad still looks stacked on paper. Iyer has options in almost every phase of the game: an explosive top three in Sharma, Suryavanshi and either Kishan or Samson, middle-order hitting through Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy, and a bowling attack that can go pace-heavy with Bumrah, Arshdeep and Harshit Rana, or lean into spin with Chakravarthy, Bishnoi and Axar depending on how the Delhi pitch behaves.
Afghanistan squad 2026 for the India series
Zadran captains, Rahmanullah Gurbaz keeps wicket. Alongside them: Abdullah Ahmadzai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Nangeyalia Kharote and Naveen-ul-Haq.
Naveen-ul-Haq coming back into the fold gives the pace attack some real bite, and the spin trio of Mujeeb, Nabi and Rashid Khan (assuming he’s fit and picked) is still probably Afghanistan’s single biggest weapon against India’s top order. This is a squad built around a fairly simple, well-worn plan: choke the middle overs with spin, then let the pace attack finish things off at both ends of the innings. It’s the same template that’s troubled far more fancied teams than India in recent tournaments, and there’s no reason to think it won’t be the approach again here.
Where Afghanistan tend to come unstuck is depth. If Rashid or Mujeeb have an off day, or if Zadran’s own form dips at the top, there isn’t quite the same bench strength to paper over the cracks that a side like India has. That’s the gap this series is really about — not raw talent, which Afghanistan clearly have in spades, but the margin for error across three matches.
Head-to-head: how this rivalry has evolved
India and Afghanistan have played each other in bilateral T20Is only a handful of times, but the head-to-head has been getting tighter with every meeting. Afghanistan’s spin attack, built around the Rashid–Nabi–Mujeeb core for years now, has repeatedly given India’s top order more trouble than most other bowling line-ups in world cricket, India included when they’ve faced Afghanistan at multi-team events. On the flip side, India’s depth — batting all the way down to seven or eight, and a pace attack that’s grown sharper at the death — has usually been enough to see them through, even in the tighter contests.
What makes this series interesting is the venue. Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi tends to offer more for spin as a match wears on, and slower, lower bounce in the second innings historically. That’s a surface that, in theory, should suit Afghanistan’s strengths as much as India’s. If Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman can extract turn early, this series could be a lot closer than the gap in ICC rankings between the two sides suggests.
Players worth watching
On India’s side, Abhishek Sharma has quietly become one of the most dangerous powerplay hitters in the format — if he gets going, games can be over inside six overs. Samson will want to make the most of his recall, given how often he’s been the bridesmaid rather than the automatic starter in India’s white-ball plans. And if Bumrah does get cleared, his death-overs bowling is probably the single biggest swing factor in this series either way; few bowlers in the world combine his control of yorkers with the ability to also strike in the powerplay. Chakravarthy’s mystery spin should suit Delhi’s slower surface too, and with Afghanistan’s batters generally more comfortable against pace than genuine wrist spin, he could be the difference-maker with the ball.
For Afghanistan, Gurbaz at the top can match anyone shot for shot when he’s in form — his strike rate in the powerplay is right up there with the best in the format, and if he gets a start against India’s new-ball attack, the chase or defence can look very different. Nabi brings a level of experience against India that nobody else in this squad has, and his calm head in the middle overs, both with bat and ball, tends to steady things when younger players around him are under pressure. Farooqi’s left-arm angle is always awkward for a right-hand-heavy line-up like India’s, particularly with the new ball, and Omarzai has the kind of all-round game — handy with both bat and ball — that can flip a match in a single over.
Pitch and conditions at Arun Jaitley Stadium
Delhi in mid-September sits right at the tail end of the monsoon season, which means there’s always a chance of the odd rain interruption, though it’s not typically severe enough to wash out a full match. The Arun Jaitley Stadium pitch has generally been a good surface for batting early in an innings, with the ball coming onto the bat nicely under lights, before slowing down a touch as the game progresses — which is exactly the kind of surface that tends to bring spinners into play in the second half of a chase.
Dew is also worth factoring in for September evening games in Delhi. If it settles in as the match wears on, bowling — particularly spin — becomes noticeably harder to control, which is one more reason captains on both sides may lean toward bowling first if they win the toss, to avoid defending a total against a wet ball in the second innings.
Why it’s worth following
India and Afghanistan have quietly turned into one of the more interesting rivalries in T20 cricket — Afghanistan’s spin stocks are deep enough to trouble any batting line-up in the world, India’s included. For India, this series is really as much about fitness and form checks as it is about the result, coming right before the T20 World Cup 2026 schedule kicks into gear: Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy are all playing with a bit of a question mark over their availability, and how they come through these three matches physically will shape selection conversations for months. For Afghanistan, it’s a chance to measure themselves against a top side, in conditions close to what they’ll be dealing with for the rest of the year, and a real opportunity to close the gap on a team they’ve historically found difficult to beat outside of ICC events.
There’s also a bigger-picture element here. Series like this one matter more than they used to for a team like Afghanistan, who are no longer treated as a fringe T20 nation by anyone who follows the sport closely. Beating — or even seriously testing — a full-strength India side on Indian soil would be one of the more significant results in Afghan cricket history, and it’s exactly the kind of series where a young Afghan bowler or batter could put their name firmly on the radar of franchise scouts around the world.
If cricket’s been on your mind this week, you might also want to catch up on how India’s women fared in their own knockout clash — check out our piece on the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 semi-final, where Shreyas Iyer‘s counterparts in the women’s team chased down a place in the final on the same weekend this men’s series gets underway. It’s shaping up to be a genuinely busy fortnight for Indian cricket fans, with knockout tension on one side and a fresh T20I series against a dangerous opponent on the other.
What to expect match by match
1st T20I, September 13: Expect both sides to use this game largely to settle combinations. With several Indian players still needing fitness sign-off, the exact XI may not be confirmed until close to the toss. Afghanistan, by contrast, go in with a settled core and should look to set an early marker with their spin attack.
2nd T20I, September 15: This is typically where series find their rhythm — both camps will have a clearer read of the surface after Match 1, and any tactical adjustments (batting order tweaks, bowling changes at the death) tend to show up here first.
3rd T20I, September 17: With the series potentially still open going into the decider, expect team sheets to lean toward the strongest available XI on both sides, injury permitting. A dead-rubber scenario is possible if either side wraps things up 2-0, but given how tightly recent India-Afghanistan meetings have gone, a series that goes the distance wouldn’t be a surprise.
Quick FAQ
1. When does the India vs Afghanistan T20 2026 series start?
September 13, 2026.
2. How many matches?
Three T20Is — September 13, 15 and 17.
Where’s it being played? Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, for all three games.
Who’s captaining each side? Shreyas Iyer for India, Ibrahim Zadran for Afghanistan.
Where can I watch India vs Afghanistan live streaming? Stream it on FanCode; catch it on TV via DD Sports.
What time do matches start? 7:00 PM IST for all three.
Is Jasprit Bumrah playing in the series? He’s named in the squad but still needs fitness clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence before he’s confirmed for any of the three matches.
Has India ever lost a T20I to Afghanistan? The two sides have met only a handful of times in bilateral cricket, and while India hold the overall edge, recent encounters — especially against Afghanistan’s spin attack — have been closer than the results suggest.
