Kohli suffers unusual injury: When will he return?

• Virat Kohli ruled out of ODI series due to rare hamstring injury
• Scans show a distal semimembranosus tendon tear from IPL final
• He will miss matches against Afghanistan; Gaikwad may replace him

The hamstring injury Virat Kohli has suffered is a ‘distal semimembranosus tendon tear’, a rare issue not often seen in atheletes, according to news agency PTI. Kohli picked up the issue while batting

in the IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad, where he remained not-out on 75.

A distal semimembranosus tendon tear is a rupture of one of the three hamstring muscles at the point where it attaches to the back of the knee (specifically, the inner upper tibia). The semimembranosus muscle acts to bend the knee and extend the hip backward.

This injury is exceptionally rare for two biomechanical reasons. First, the vast majority of hamstring tears occur higher up, either at the muscle-tendon junction in the mid-thigh or at the proximal attachment near the hip during sudden, forceful overstretching (like sprinting).

Second, the tendon connecting this muscle to the knee is thick, wide, and deeply anchored to the bone in multiple spots. Because of this strong, reinforced build, it is very hard to snap. Also, on the rare occasions when lower hamstring tears do happen, they almost always affect a different muscle on the outside of the leg. This makes tearing this specific tendon highly unusual.

“He is out of the ODI series due to a hamstring injury. He got injured during the final. Scans have revealed a distal semimembranosus tendon tear,” a BCCI source told PTI.

According to The Indian Express, meanwhile, this injury is only expected to rule him out for two weeks. In match terms, he’ll be only unavailable for the first two matches against Afghanistan — June 13 in Dharamsala and June 17 in Lucknow. He’ll technically be available for the third match, but the report said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reluctant to take that risk with him.

Ruturaj Gaikwad is lined up as the injury replacement and could be announced soon.