India pacer Harshit Rana received a fresh injury blow while bidding for a comeback into the T20I squad, ruling him out of the three-match series against Afghanistan and the subsequent Asian Games in Japan later this month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have also confirmed that pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounders Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy have received their fitness clearance for a return to the T20I squad.

Vidarbha pacer Yash Thakur has been named Rana’s replacement for both series. Rana was ruled out of India’s T20 World Cup campaign in February with a hamstring tear during the warm-up match before the tournament. He subsequently missed the entirety of the IPL 2026 season before making a comeback into the squad during the tour to Ireland and England.

Rana, however, suffered a fresh hamstring injury, ruling him out of the Zimbabwe tour. Thakur, who replaced Rana on the tour, made his T20I debut and picked up four wickets in two matches.

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The selection committee last week named Rana in the squad, subject to a fitness clearance. According to a BCCI statement, the Delhi pacer suffered another injury while undergoing mandatory fitness clearance tests at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.

India play Afghanistan in the first of three matches in Delhi on Saturday. The team will then take on Japan in a one-off T20I before gearing up for their Asian Games gold medal defence in the quarter-final on September 28.

India’s updated squad for Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas lyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur

India squad for the 2026 Asian Games: Shreyas lyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur.