NEW DELHI: India pacer Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against Afghanistan and the 2026 Asian Games due to a fresh injury, with Yash Thakur named as his replacement.
Rana had initially suffered a right hamstring injury that kept him out of action for nearly two months. However, he sustained another injury during his rehabilitation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE).
“Harshit Rana was progressing well during his rehab at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE). He sustained a rectus femoris strain while bowling during a match simulation on September 7 and has subsequently been ruled out,” the BCCI said in a release on Thursday.
Rana missed India’s last two T20Is and the ODI series in the UK before also sitting out the subsequent tour of Zimbabwe. He had been included in India’s original squads for the Afghanistan series and Asian Games, subject to fitness clearance.
Amid India’s growing injury concerns, there was positive news as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar were cleared to feature in the Afghanistan T20Is, which begin on September 13 in Delhi. There is no official update yet on Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness.
Thakur, 27, made his T20I debut in July during India’s tour of Zimbabwe, where he played two matches and claimed two wickets in each game.
He was last in action for Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-final against East Zone. Thakur claimed three wickets in the first innings, including the dismissal of Ishan Kishan, before taking another wicket in the second innings by dismissing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India’s updated squad for Afghanistan T20Is
Shreyas Iyer (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 and Yash Thakur.
India squad for the 2026 Asian Games
Shreyas Iyer (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 and Yash Thakur.
