India have won both T20Is by seven wickets, and the dead rubber is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s chance to play at home
Two near-identical seven-wicket wins settled this series early, so Thursday’s final T20I in Delhi is about what India try next. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has never played an international at home.
Sep 16, 2026
India have won this series twice over, and both times in almost exactly the same way. Afghanistan made 156 for 8 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on 13 September and India chased it in 13.4 overs. Afghanistan made 159 for 8 on the same ground on 15 September and India chased that in 14.5. Seven wickets each time. The third T20I on Thursday evening decides nothing, which is the most interesting thing about it.
The 15-year-old who has never played at home
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has sat through both matches without a game. He made his T20I debut against England on 4 July at 15 years and 99 days, the youngest cricketer India have ever capped, and every appearance since has come outside the country. Six caps so far, three in England and three in Zimbabwe. In Harare he became the youngest man to make a fifty in a men’s T20I, then closed the series with 81 off 49 balls.
Thursday in Delhi would be his first international on Indian soil. ESPNcricinfo’s preview points out what that would mean beyond the sentiment: the youngest player from a Full Member nation ever to appear in an international match in India. For a dead rubber that is not a bad reason to turn up.
The experiment India should actually run
Shreyas Iyer has already said changes are coming, framing it around players getting “used to the wicket and get some practice”. The more useful version of that is a combination question rather than a rotation one.
India have not once been forced to bat first in this series, and they have lost the toss only once in their last 12 T20Is. That is a long run of choosing your own conditions. The squad also carries enough bowling to field four specialists and leave the lower order without a six-hitter at No. 8, a shape they used throughout the Zimbabwe tour while Gautam Gambhir was on leave and someone else was running the side. Doing it again with the regular coach back, at home, against a team with three front-line spinners, tells you far more than another chase with 30 balls to spare.
There are individual cases too. Washington Sundar has not had a hit. Yash Thakur is on two T20I caps and has been carrying drinks. Axar Patel, playing at his IPL home ground, has bowled inside the powerplay in both games and has two wickets to show for it, which undersells him given the catches that have gone down off his bowling.
Afghanistan have a selection problem of their own
Naveen-ul-Haq is back in the squad after two years out and double shoulder surgery, and whether he is match fit is the first thing Afghanistan need to settle. It matters because their pace plan is hard to follow. Fazalhaq Farooqi was in the XI on 15 September and did not bowl a single ball with the new one.
Their batting order has a similar shape to it. Azmatullah Omarzai has been their best player in the series, an unbeaten 64 off 44 in the opener, and he is coming in at No. 6 with the game usually gone. Rashid Khan has not bowled in the powerplay either. Ibrahim Zadran, who took over the T20I captaincy from Rashid Khan after the World Cup, took first strike in the second game to shield Rahmanullah Gurbaz after his duck in the opener, then played out a maiden, and Gurbaz got a duck anyway.
Rashid does have something personal riding on Thursday. Four more wickets and he becomes the first bowler to reach 200 in T20 internationals.
Numbers worth knowing before the toss
Sanju Samson is the fifth Indian opener to pass 1,000 T20I runs. His pattern this year is stark: he has faced more than 15 balls in an innings four times in 16, and every one of those four turned into a fifty. India arrive on a five-match winning run in the format.
A western disturbance is forming over north-western India, so there is some rain about, though nothing that looks likely to take the game away. Play starts at 7:30pm IST.