table of contents
The India national cricket team has made three changes for the second ODI against the Afghanistan national cricket team at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday (June 17). Shreyas Iyer handed the debut cap to Prince Yadav before the toss in Lucknow after Sourav Ganguly approved his selection.
Captain Shubman Gill has confirmed that Kuldeep Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal have returned to the India XI for the second ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow. Gill also confirmed Prince’s much-awaited debut in the series after handing debut caps to Harsh Dubey and Gurnoor Brar in the first ODI.
Shreyas Iyer hands debut cap to Prince Yadav ahead of 2nd IND vs AFG ODI
Prince Yadav has become the third player to make his debut for India in the ongoing three-match ODI series against Afghanistan after receiving the cap from new T20I captain and senior middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
With Gurnoor Brar retaining his place, Harsh Dubey and Prasidh Krishna were ruled out of the second ODI against Afghanistan. Additionally, Nitish Kumar Reddy is not going to the Lucknow show due to a quad injury. But Gill did not share much information about Reddy’s injury.
The arrival of Prince Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal has resulted in a massive reshuffle in the batting order as captain Gill has shifted himself to number three while KL Rahul has been moved to number six. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer will bat ahead of Rahul, while Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit Sharma in the second ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow.
Shubman Gill told about changes in team selection
Speaking on the toss, Shubman Gill said that if the Men in Blue had won the toss against the Afghan side due to the team combination, they too would have bowled first as they were forced to play with only five bowlers in Lucknow. However, Gill said that India is ready for this challenge.
“It’s all about just being in tough conditions and getting that experience. If you’re chasing, get used to chasing big scores, and if you’re defending, how can we defend those low scores, and how clinical can we be with our bowling? We have three changes. Prince made his debut. Nitish was not available for selection in this match. There were some issues with his team,” Gill said, as quoted by Cricbuzz. So, we have included Kuldeep and Jaiswal.”
Notably, Prince Yadav was included in IPL 2026 for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in India after taking 16 wickets in 14 matches.
Teams for 2nd IND vs AFG ODI:
India’s playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav.
Afghanistan’s playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Darwish Rasooli, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Bilal Sami.
The Lucknow pitch looks good for batting initially, although some areas look uneven. The weather is extremely hot, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, so the surface may break up and help the spinners during the match on Wednesday.