Big picture
The gulf between India and Afghanistan during the recent bilateral T20I series - which India won 3-0 - was a further vindication of India's dominance in the format and why they are world champions. It may not have reflected Afghanistan's pedigree in the format, but it showed the gaps they still have to make up to match the top sides in the world.
Now Afghanistan, who have sent a second-string side to the Asian Games, now take on a full-strength India in the quarter-finals. Thirteen of the 15 players who toured India for the bilateral series are not in Afghanistan's squad now, and the only two retained are Darwish Rasooli (the captain) and Abdollah Ahmadzai. Afghanistan's squad of 15 is so raw that it features six uncapped players and five others who have fewer than ten international appearances.
There is no Rashid Khan, no Rahmanullah Gurbaz, no Mohammad Nabi, but Nabi's genes are in the side, in his 20-year-old son Hassan Eisakhil.
India, despite a calendar clash with the home ODIs against West Indies, which also start on Sunday, have sent their big guns to Japan in search of their second straight gold medal. If there is one team that can field multiple white-ball squads simultaneously, it is India, and they have done that. It is not officially known, however, why Afghanistan have sent such an inexperienced side when their next international fixture, a one-off Test against Bangladesh, only starts on October 9. Afghanistan aren't alone in sending a second-string squad, perhaps to give their first-choice players some rest in an otherwise packed calendar.
The divide between the two sides is stark and even though they would want to take heart from the scare Japan handed India - even if in a rain-truncated game - recently, Afghanistan themselves lost to Nepal a couple of days ago. Now they have to compete against the world champions, a task they struggled with even at full strength earlier this month.
Form guide
Afghanistan LWLLL (last five completed games, most recent first)
India WWWWW
In the spotlight: Washington Sundar and Ismat Alam
India have been plagued by injuries of late and one of the names on that list was of Washington Sundar, who returned to action in the Japan T20I last week. He didn't get to bat and bowled two overs and took two wickets while playing his first game in two months. India would want to give him more game time before he heads back home for the West Indies T20Is that start on October 6 in Lucknow. Barring his niggles, Washington has otherwise had an impressive year across formats with an unbeaten 52 in an ODI to give India their first win of their UK tour after he took a four-for in the Test against Afghanistan, during which he also scored 52*.
Pace-bowling allrounder Ismat Alam, 24, has played two Tests and one T20I so far, Afghanistan's opening game against Japan. Alam was the Player of the Tournament in Afghanistan's domestic T20s - Shpageeza Cricket League - for scoring 294 runs at a strike rate of 168, while also taking nine wickets. He had starred on his Test debut last year, scoring a century in the lower order that set up Afghanistan's victory over Zimbabwe. Afghanistan may want to give him a game and hope he steps up again on the big stage.
Team news
India had rested Jasprit Bumrah in the one-off T20I against Japan and played Arshdeep Singh and Yash Thakur as their quick options apart from legspinner Ravi Bishnoi and spin-bowling allrounders Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. India will now have to decide whom to leave out for Bumrah. The other question will be if India want to give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a game early in the tournament, although Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson look undroppable given the runs they scored in the series against Afghanistan.
India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Yash Thakur/Arshdeep Singh, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
Against Nepal, Afghanistan gave a T20I debut to Faisal Shinozada who top-scored along with the experienced Najibullah Zadran, the only batters who scored in double-digits in the game.
Afghanistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Akram, 2 Hassan Eisakhil, 3 Karim Janat, 4 Darwish Rasooli (capt), 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Mohammad Ishaq (wk), 7 Ismat Alam, 8 Nangeyalia Khan, 9 Abdollah Ahmadzai, 10 Faridoon Dawoodzai, 11 Arab Gul.
Pitch and conditions
Heavy rain is expected in Nisshin on Monday with the possibility that this game could be washed out. In that case, India will go through because of their higher seeding based on the ICC T20I rankings. The last two games at the ground were also washed out, on Friday.
Stats and trivia
India and Afghanistan played the Asian Games final in 2023. That game was washed out, and India got the gold medal.
Afghanistan are yet to beat India in a T20I. The closest they came was during the double-Super-Over game in Bengaluru in 2024.