Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Riyan Parag has been ruled out of the India A tri-series against Sri Lanka due to the hamstring injury he sustained in the recent IPL 2026 season. The Board of Control for Cricket in India said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad would replace him in the squad.
Parag missed two matches in IPL 2026 due to a hamstring injury. Before the must-win last group-stage game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Parag even said he was ‘definitely not fit’ to play, but he did so due to sheer ‘mental toughness.’
“Ruturaj Gaikwad added to India A squad for tri-series in Sri Lanka. The Men’s Selection Committee has added Ruturaj Gaikwad to the India A squad for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka. He replaces vice-captain
Riyan Parag, who has been ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. Riyan’s rehabilitation will be managed by the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE),” the BCCI said in a statement.
Updated India A squad for tri-series: Tilak Varma (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Kumar Kushagra (WK), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan, and Anukul Roy.
Parag’s statement had raised concerns about several players in the league playing through injuries for their franchises’ sake without worrying about their Indian careers. Varun Chakaravarthy also played through two injuries, and there were similar worries about ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said the board was ‘powerless’.
“So far as IPL is concerned, franchises take care of the injuries and fitness of the players. Of course, physios from COE are also monitoring them, workload as well as planning on how to keep them fit,” Saikia said while speaking to the media. “The monitoring is there, but when IPL is going on, we can’t interfere too much. Had it been an Indian team situation, our control would have been more. Now we are giving freedom to franchises to take a call on the players,” Saikia added.
