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India’s experienced all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of the three-ODI series against Afghanistan at home. A couple of days ahead of the series opener in Dharamsala, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed that Pandya has been injured. But, Saikia is unsure about whether a replacement for Pandya will be named in the squad or not.
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“Yes, Hardik has been ruled out of the ODI series against Afghanistan due to an injury,” Saikia told TOI on June 10. “We will soon take a call on replacement or continue with 14.”
Pandya had reported the Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru, earlier this month. He had missed a few Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 games for Mumbai Indians (MI) due to back spasms. At CoE, he got the Return to Play (RTP) but complained of sprain in quadriceps. He had scans on June 9 and was ruled out of action for a few weeks. He should be able to recover before the ODI series against England next month.
In the current squad, India have a like-for-like replacement for Pandya. After adding extra pace which was on display in the IPL 2026, Nitish Kumar Reddy is expected to walk into the playing eleven. 23-year-old Reddy claimed eight wickets from 14 games in the IPL 2026 at an average of 40.37.
Fast-bowling all-rounders who can be called up
Shivam Dube and Arshad Khan are two fast-bowling all-rounders India have at the moment. While Dube is playing in the T20 Mumbai League 2026, Arshad is playing in the tri-series for India A against Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A. In the series opener, left-arm pacer Arshad bowled well at the death, helping Tilak Varma-led side register a close win. 32-year-old Dube's last ODI appearance was in 2024 on Sri Lanka soil.
India’s ODI squad for Afghanistan series
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey.
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