India's 24-year-old pacer Harshit Rana is unlikely to regain fitness ahead of the T20I series against Afghanistan starting on September 13 in Delhi. Rana was among four players who were picked for the series subjected to fitness clearance.
"He has not yet fully recovered from his hamstring injury. He will need more time," a BCCI source told PTI.
All-rounder Washington Sundar has already passed the fitness Test. Also pace attack leader Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy are set to return to action after recovering from their respective injuries.
"Both Bumrah and Reddy are on track for their comeback," the source added.
Rana had made a comeback in the Afghanistan ODI series after a long injury layoff which led to him missing the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. He got injured the UK tour and has been on the sidelines.
India’s squad for T20I series vs Afghanistan
Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Who will replace Rana if he doesn’t recover?
Prince Yadav made his T20I debut on UK tour. He claimed three wickets against Ireland and two wickets from three T20Is against England. He also claimed four wickets from two T20Is against Zimbabwe. He can be one of the contenders to replace Rana.
On his T20I comeback, Mayank Yadav claimed five wickets from three T20Is against Zimbabwe. Reportedly, he is one of the net bowlers for Asian Games 2026 as well. He is in line to get a chance in the full-strength squad as well.
Ashok Sharma made his T20I debut on Zimbabwe tour as well. He bagged one wicket from two T20Is and was economical.
The other no nonsense option is Mohammed Siraj. However, he is currently playing in the Duleep Trophy 2026 final. If picked, he can board the flight from Chennai to Delhi along with his South Zone captain and T20I vice-captain Tilak Varma.