CHENNAI: While the official word is yet to come, it seems like Virat Kohli is set to miss the upcoming Afghanistan ODIs with uncertainty looming over Rohit Sharma's participation.
Kohli, who last played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League final, reportedly picked up a hamstring injury on Sunday. In some of the videos that emerged on social media after RCB's title win, Kohli could be seen indicating his hamstring towards the dugout and teammates who were ready to run in as soon as he hit the winning runs. Now, the 37-year-old, who is a one-format player for India, is set to miss the three ODIs against Afghanistan, but is expected to be fit for the England tour.
If Kohli missing puts a dampener for the fans, uncertainty over Rohit's fitness only adds to it. The former skipper, whose participation was subject to fitness when the squad was named, had missed a fair few games during the IPL due to hamstring injury. Though there is more than a week left for the series, that Rohit is yet to be declared fit has raised a cloud of uncertainty over his participation. Similarly, Hardik Pandya's availability is also subject to fitness.
"Official communication will come on that. It's obviously big news when it's someone like Virat and Rohit. But the same protocols will be in place. We will assess the fitness of those guys. We have got a few days now to decide whether they are fit enough to play and be part of the squad and make adjustments accordingly. But I'm sure some official communication will come through as soon as the medical team has made a decision on that," assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters in New Chandigarh on Thursday. The said adjustments and final call will be taken when the selection committee meets to pick the squad for the England and Ireland tours. In the same meeting, a new T20I captain is also expected to be announced.
The two veterans — who have missed just one ODI series since 2023 (the South Africa tour after the World Cup) — have made their intentions clear on playing the 2027 ODI World Cup. However, both head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have remained non-committal on their future with the Indian team. This injury comes as a blow for both as Rohit and Kohli will be keen to play every ODI series in the next 18 months leading up to the global event in South Africa late next year.
