Even in a series where almost everything went right for the Indian men’s cricket team, something still went wrong. India completed a 3-0 clean sweep of the recently concluded three-match T20I series against Afghanistan with relative ease. Amid the many positives to emerge from the series, however, the team management will be particularly concerned about the injury sustained by Varun Chakaravarthy.

Having only just returned from the hamstring injury he suffered against England in July, Varun was troubled by what the BCCI described as a “sudden-onset discomfort in his left lateral abdominal region” during the first T20I. He was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the series, as well as the Asian Games.

Varun’s injury, though, is not an aberration — it is the latest addition to a growing list of absentees for the Indian team. Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana are yet to recover from their respective injuries, while Sai Sudharsan sustained a toe stress fracture during the Test series against Sri Lanka. Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar have also only recently returned to the fold.

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With crucial Test series against New Zealand and Australia on the horizon, and the 2027 ODI World Cup not far ahead, India head coach Gautam Gambhir acknowledged that recurring injuries are proving to be a major headache for his team.

“If I give you an honest answer, then yes (it is a problem). Especially in Test cricket and ODI cricket, because the next World Cup is in the ODI format. And more importantly, it’s not fair on a young captain as well if he doesn’t get the best team, playing consistently and regularly and not being on the path consistently,” he said in the post-match press conference after India’s 127-run triumph on Thursday.

“That’s why I have to be dead honest. Yes, as a coach, I can take all the criticisms, but for me, I think it is important for Shubman to get the best team at 11 as many times as he can in red ball and in white ball formats as well,” Gambhir added.