Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad join Hardik Pandya in India’s injury list, miss Afghanistan T20Is

Suryakumar Yadav and Ruturaj Gaikwad have joined Hardik Pandya on the sidelines in India’s upcoming three-T20I series against Afghanistan that starts on Thursday in Mohali. India T20I vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav had been leading the Men in Blue in the shortest format since Pandya suffered an ankle injury in the recent ICC World Cup.

According to a report on ESPNCricinfo, Gaikwad — who led India to the gold medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games — has suffered a finger injury that could force him to miss the first half of the five-Test series against England that starts in Hyderabad on 25 January.

SKY, meanwhile, led India to a 4-1 T20I series victory over Australia right after the World Cup and a 1-1 draw in South Africa. The flamboyant batter, however, suffered an ankle injury during the Men in Blue’s T20I series-levelling win over the Proteas in Johannesburg. Surya, who had scored his fourth T20I hundred in that game, is set to undergo a surgery on the affected ankle that will keep him out of action for quite some time.

Watch: SKY posts video of him walking with a crutch after ankle injury

Both SKY and Pandya are expected to return to action in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where they will be teammates at Mumbai Indians for the first time in three years, with the latter having been appointed captain in place of Rohit Sharma

The latest developments also increase the likelihood of Test and ODI skipper Rohit and Virat Kohli making their T20I comeback after more than a year, having last represented India in the shortest format in the T20 World Cup in November 2022.

Read | Kohli, Rohit dilemma delays India’s squad selection for AFG T20Is

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced squad for the three T20Is on Sunday, just four days before the series gets underway, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning to the T20I fold for the first time since the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

The upcoming series takes place in Indore and Bengaluru on 14 and 17 January respectively after the Mohali fixture. It will be their final T20I assignment before the T20 World Cup that takes place in the Caribbean and the United States in June, and the Men in Blue will hope to use the series as a platform to get their combination right for the mega event later this year.

Afghanistan had announced their squad on Saturday, naming Ibrahim Zadran the skipper and including Rashid Khan despite the star leg-spinner undergoing a back surgery recently.