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The Indian cricket team is all set to play their first match of the ICC World Twenty20 against newcomers Afghanistan.

Talking to media, Indian captain MS Dhoni said, “If you compare our batting to our bowling, we find the bowling is slightly weaker, but still we have got experienced bowlers who can do the needful. We are looking to play seven batsmen to start off the tournament.”

Further, the Indian captain said, “It means the part-timers will have to do a really good job so that we can sustain with those seven batsmen. If we still find our bowling a bit weak, (then) we will have to go with six batters and five bowlers.”

Meanwhile, India has won their first warm-up match against Sri Lanka but lost to arch-rival Pakistan in the second warm-up match.

Dhoni said, “We are going good. Yes, (in the warm-ups) we won one and lost one, but overall, it gave some exposure to some of our bowlers as to what needs to be done. At the same time, we don’t rate any side lightly, be it Afghanistan or any other side.”

It will be very special moment for team India, Yuvraj Singh will be the centre of attraction for all cricket fans. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sheram are in good form, now we hope to see good batting from team India.

Opener Virender Sehwag would be special but there are doubts on Gautam Gambhir to play.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashok Dinda, L Balaji, Piyush Chawla.

Afghanistan: Nawroz Mangal (Capt.), Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbodin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Izatullah Dawlatzai, Javed Ahmadi, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nasim Baras, Samiullah Shenwari, Shafiqullah, Shapoor Zadran.