India's stand-in T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav twisted his ankle while fielding during the third T20I in Johannesburg last week. Suryakumar has suffered a Grade-II tear in his ankle as per a report by The Indian Express. He will be out of action for seven weeks and hence has been ruled out of the three-T20I series at home against Afghanistan starting January 11.
After recovering from injury, Suryakumar will start his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. He is likely to regain full fitness by the first week of February.
Surya got injured when he was trying to stop the ball and got off balance. But Surya's absence from the field did not hurt India as Kuldeep Yadav's fifer on his birthday helped the visitors bowl out South Africa for 95. The 33-year-old won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for scoring a record-equalling fourth T20I century. India won the match by 106 runs and leveled the three-T20I series 1-1.
“I am good. I am walking, so good,” he had said in the post-match presentation at New Wanderers Stadium on December 14.
The T20I series against Afghanistan will kick off on January 11 in Mohali. India are yet to announce the squad for the three-T20I series which will end on January 17 in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya is likely to make a comeback in the Afghanistan series. In Pandya’s absence, Suryakumar led India in the T20I series against Australia and South Africa. The all-rounder suffered an ankle injury during the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 clash against Bangladesh.
The home series will follow the Test series against South Africa. If Rohit Sharma is named T20I captain for the Afghanistan series, he will be leading India in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and the USA.
Rohit has not played a single T20I since India’s T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal exit at the hands of Jos Buttler’s England in Australia. Also, Virat Kohli’s future in T20Is will be clear with the home T20I series against Afghanistan.
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