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India all-rounder Washington Sundar's chances of featuring in the 2026 T20 World Cup appear to be slim as he is yet to regain full fitness. He had suffered a rib injury during the first ODI against New Zealand and has been out of action ever since. According to a report by The Indian Express, it will take him two weeks more to be fully fit and this can see miss games in the T20 World Cup.
“He needs two more weeks to be completely fit. The medical team has advised him to rest for two weeks more. The senior selection committee and team management will have to take a call on whether to continue with him or have a replacement,” a BCCI source said.
Sundar's injury against New Zealand
Sundar had picked up the injury while bowling in the match against New Zealand. He only five overs during the innings before walking off the field. However, he did take the crease to bat as India required only a few runs to claim victory. The 26-year-old remained unbeaten on seven runs from as many deliveries as KL Rahul took the team over the finish line.
This was the first time that Sundar was included in a World Cup team as he had previously missed the T20 World Cup in 2021 and 2022 due to different injuries. It will be really guttinbg for the all-rounder if he ends up missing another edition of the tournament due to his fitness.
Injury update on Tilak
Meanwhile, the report also provided an update on Tilak Varma's injury. After recently undergoing an abdominal surgery, the left-hand batter is likely to return to action soon and is expected to be available for India's fifth and final T20I of the series against New Zealand that will be played on January 31 at the Greenfield stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. This means that he will likely be available to play in the T20 World Cup as well. The 23-year-old is pushing hard to regain full fitness at BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.
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India's squad for 2026 T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.
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