India will lock horns against Afghanistan in the first ODI at Dharamshala on Saturday. The hosts will be without the services of their talismanic batter Virat Kohli, who has been ruled out of the series with a hamstring injury, which he suffered in the IPL 2026 final against Gujarat Titans. Yashasvi Jaiswal has been named as Kohli’s replacement and it would be interesting to note if he gets his chance in the playing XI.

Furthermore, the home team has suffered another injury blow, as star all-rounder Hardik Pandya has suffered a fresh injury and he is unlikely to take part in the series. However, Rohit Sharma has recovered and he is expected to open the innings with in-form skipper, Shubman Gill.

Jasprit Bumrah has been rested and rookie players like Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav, and Harsh Dubey will look to grab their chances against Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Afghanistan will receive Rashid Khan’s boost after the talismanic spinner was rested for the one-off Test match against India. The visitors will also have the services of veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi.

However, there is no doubt that Afghanistan will need to play out of their skins to challenge the potent Indian team.

Head to Head: Matches: 4, Won by India: 3, Won by Afghanistan: 0, Tied: 1.

India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey

Afghanistan ODI squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharotai, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Fareed Malik, Bilal Sami