The BCCI have announced that Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to replace the injured Virat Kohli in the upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan.
The mercurial batter suffered a hamstring injury during the 2026 Indian Premier League final against the Gujarat Titans on May 31 in Ahmedabad. Despite the injury, Kohli played a match-winning innings, scoring an unbeaten 75 off 42 balls to lead the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a successful title defence, picking up the player of the Match award in the process.
The southpaw Jaiswal, a regular in the Test side, made his ODI debut against England in Nagpur in February 2025. He opened the batting in the three-match ODI series against South Africa later in the year, in the absence of skipper Shubman Gill. He scored an unbeaten 116 in the final game of the series to hand India a 2-1 win.
Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar stated that the timeline of Kohli’s fitness is yet to be confirmed, but expects the star batter to be ready for the ODI series in England in July 2026.
“It’s just less than a week since he injured himself in the IPL final. Don’t know the timelines yet, looks like he might be fit for England ODIs. Not a definitive squad, don’t have a timeline from the physio yet,” Agarkar said in a press conference.
This confirmation comes after it was reported that alongside Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya are also awaiting confirmation on their participation, which is subject to fitness clearance.
The opening batter was coming off a hamstring injury in the IPL season and is awaiting clearance to participate, while the all-rounder had recently checked in to the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where he is being assessed over his recovery from a back spasm. Agarkar further revealed that the pair is expected to be available for the series.
The three ODIs against Afghanistan will be played on June 14, 17 and 20 in Dharamshala, Lucknow, and Chennai, respectively, after the culmination of the one-off Test.
India’s updated ODI Squad vs Afghanistan:
Shubman Gill (capt), Rohit Sharma*, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya*, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey
* subject to fitness clearance
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