• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya have been officially ruled out of the T20I series against Afghanistan at home as the wait for the final squad continues.

The three-match series between India and Afghanistan will begin on Thursday, January 11 with the first match scheduled to be played in Mohali.

Both Suryakumar and Hardik are out with respective injuries whereas opener Ruturaj Gaikwad is also unavailable with a finger injury. He is likely to miss the first part of the England Test series as well.

The major thing to watch out for in the squad announcement will be the role of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as their future remains unclear in the shortest format of the game.

Neither Rohit nor Kohli has played a T20I since the 2022 T20 World Cup, where India lost to England in the semi-final.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo both Suryakumar and Hardik are expected to be back in action from the IPL. Suryakumar picked up an ankle injury in South Africa. He recently underwent ankle surgery and is expected to return to training in a couple of months.

The Afghanistan series is India's last bilateral T20I assignment before the T20 World Cup, which begins on June 1, immediately after the IPL.

Ideally, the selectors would have wanted all their regular players available for selection, including Hardik, who has been out since picking up an injury in the match against Bangladesh in Pune during the ODI World Cup 2023 

Hardik had led the Indian side in the T20 format in 2023 before he missed out the Australia and Sputh Africa series' due to injury.

Hardik continues to be carrying on his rehab. It is learned that while the India allrounder continues to work on his strength and conditioning, he has not reached optimal fitness. As a precautionary measure, the medical team has advised Hardik should continue to monitor his workload.

On the other hand, his availability fir the Afghanistan would have given rise to another dilemma that who would have captained the side with Rohit also likely to make a return

After the 2022 T20 World Cup, Hardik was projected to replace Rohit as the captain in the shortest format.