Yashasvi Jaiswal was named by the selectors on Saturday to replace star batsman Virat Kohli, who will miss India’s three-match ODI series against Afghanistan later this month due to a hamstring injury.
On June 13, 17, and 20, respectively, the three ODIs will take place at Dharamsala, Lucknow, and Chennai.
After retiring from Test and Twenty20 cricket, Kohli only competes in one format. During the recent IPL final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, he sustained a hamstring injury. RCB won their second consecutive IPL title riding on Kohli’s unbeaten 75.
“With Virat, at this point, it’s just been less than a week since he injured himself in the finals. We will assess him (but) we don’t know the timelines yet,” PTI quoted chief selector Ajit Agarkar telling reporters during a press conference at the BCCI headquarters.
“Yashasvi will be his replacement. But it looks like he (Kohli) might be fit for that England one-day series (in July) but again, it’s not a definitive answer. So, don’t hold me to it. I haven’t had a clear timeline from the physio yet,” Agarkar added.
Since making his debut against England in February 2025, Jaiswal, an all-format player for India, has only participated in four One-Day Internationals. At Visakhapatnam, the left-hander defeated South Africa with a game-winning 116, his first ODI century.
Former captain Rohit Sharma will travel to the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru, where all-rounder Hardik Pandya is almost finished with his rehabilitation, according to BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia.
“Hardik is in COE Bangalore. He is going to a rehabilitation programme and very soon he will go for the final phase (of recuperation) and will be in the process of clearance,” PTI quoted Saikia as saying.
Due to his workload in the 50-over format, Pandya was named in the ODI squad against Afghanistan but left out of the squads for the Asian Games, the tour of Ireland and England.
Former captain Rohit, who currently only plays one-day matches, also sustained a hamstring injury during the IPL, limiting his outings for the Mumbai Indians to nine games this season.
“As far as Rohit is concerned, he is also visiting COE in two or three days’ time. We are following a process for each player who is suffering from any kind of injury and what is the rehabilitation programme.
“They have to be finally cleared from the COE to our technical team here. So, the process is on and we are awaiting their final fitness clearance,” Saikia added.
Updated Indian squad for ODIs against Afghanistan: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey
