India hopeful of pocketing ODI series against Afghanistan in Lucknow

Team India started their campaign against Afghanistan in the ODI series with a clinical win despite intervention from the rain Gods. A solid show with the bat saw them ease past the finish line after the two debutants, Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey combined brilliantly to leave the visitors frazzled. They gear up for their next challenge as the second ODI will be played in Lucknow.

In a 25-over game, Afghanistan rode on the shoulders of Rahmanullah Gurbaz who blasted a century to put them in a position to fight. But with an experienced batting line-up for India that featured the likes of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, it never really looked like that the Afghan bowlers had what it took to stall the Indian juggernaut.

The Men in Blue will be hopeful of pocketing the series with a match to spare as they take the yard again. Afghanistan will be taking a lot of heart from the last game but whether that will be enough to throw a spanner in India’s plans, that will be a discussion for later. Individual performers who have been a part of the IPL will obviously be the ones on whom the visitors will be pinning their hopes against a heavyweight Indian side.

Venue Watch

As the caravan moves to Lucknow, one can expect the surface to be a batting conducive one, exactly like the first ODI. The new ball will do its bit and as the transition happens to lights, one might expect the start of the second innings to also witness a significant bit of drift from the new ball. Turners might expect to come into play in the first half of the game but with the onset of dew spinners might find it extremely hard to get their act right.

Match detail:

Match: India vs Afghanistan, 2nd ODI

Venue: Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow

Date: 17th June, 2026

Time: 1:30 PM

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 5

India: 4

Afghanistan: 0

Squads:

India:

Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma*, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya*, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey

Afghanistan:

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