India have been struggling in T20Is since they won their second straight T20 World Cup earlier this year. The team, now led by Shreyas Iyer, lost all six of their T20Is against Ireland and England, before finally whitewashing Zimbabwe 3-0. They will now face Afghanistan in a three-match T20I series starting September 13 (Saturday), followed by a historic T20I against Japan, and then the Asian Games 2026. India’s batting order has been a major concern, particularly Tilak Varma’s inconsistent showing. Now, legendary South African batter Ab de Villiers has expressed a major concern regarding Tilak Varma.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ab de Villiers expressed concern regarding what the batting order of the Indian team will be going into the string of T20Is, and especially how they would balance things with vice-captain Tilak Varma in the mix.
“There will definitely be some selection issues with regard to the batters. Obviously, Shreyas, captain, Ishan Kishan, Samson, Sooryavanshi, and then there are all-rounders, Tilak Varma; I think that’s where the balance is quite tricky. Where will he bat?” de Villiers said.
Tilak Varma , since the T20 World Cup 2026, has scored 255 runs from 10 innings, at a strike rate of 159.36. In the three innings, he has crossed the half-century mark just thrice, thereby highlighting his inconsistent run with the bat.
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‘India have strong squad, but balance is tricky’: Ab de Villiers
AB de Villiers also said that the Indian squad for the Afghanistan series is really strong, and everyone needs to have clarity of their roles given they are facing such a strong side like the Afghans.
“Really, really strong squad, but the balance will be tricky to figure out. It is T20 cricket, so they can play around with the squad a little bit. There are different roles, but the role clarification will still be incredibly important for India, as they are playing quite a dangerous team,” de Villiers stated.
India squad for T20I series vs Afghanistan
Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur