Indian cricket team’s fitness problems don’t seem to be over. Star batter Suryakumar Yadav, who recently captained the side in T20Is against Australia and South Africa, is set to be out of action till February, it was reported. SKY suffered an ankle injury during the third T20I against South Africa earlier this month and due to a suspected tear could miss the T20Is against Afghanistan in January.
The batter twisted his ankle while trying to stop a ball in the field.
“Surya has reported to NCA for rehab work and the Medical Science team as of now has ruled him injured. He won’t be able to play against Afghanistan which starts in three weeks time. Since he is unlikely to be selected for Tests, he will possibly play for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy in February to check his fitness before playing in the IPL,” a BCCI source told news agency PTI.
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As per Indian Express, Suryakumar has a Grade-II tear in his ankle and will not be back in action until at least February.
The question is who will captain India against Afghanistan? Also, there’s the T20 World Cup in June and the management would want to sort out every issue before that.
The problem is even Hardik Pandya who mostly captained the team in T20Is in 2023 is also unavailable due to an ankle injury he suffered during the ODI World Cup.
As per the PTI report, Pandya may also miss a few IPL matches.
“There is no update on Hardik’s fitness status as of now and one can say there remains a big question mark of him being available before the end of IPL,” the source added.
We could see Rohit Sharma making a return to the T20I side as a captain in the absence of Suryakumar and Pandya. Unless Ravindra Jadeja is asked to fill in.
Ruturaj Gaikwad will be missing the Afghanistan T20Is as he has broken his finger.
Another news that has come out is that Jitesh Sharma is expected to keep wickets against Afghanistan after Ishan Kishan pulled out of the Test series against South Africa.
As per the report, Kishan pulled out to priortise his mental health and he may not be available for the Afghanistan T20I series in January.
“The BCCI respects a player’s privacy and no one will ask Kishan the reason why he decided to skip the Tests. May be once Rahul was announced as a keeper in Tests, he didn’t want to hang around. It does take a toll, if you are not picked consistently.”