Legendary Indian batter Virat Kohli is set to miss out on the upcoming series due to a hamstring injury, which is a major setback for the Men in Blue ahead
of their 50-over assignment against Afghanistan. India will be playing the Afghan side in three ODIs from June 13 to June 20. In the IPL 2026 final, Kohli was instrumental in helping RCB defeat the Gujarat Titans by chasing down 156 to win the championship for the second time in a row. As RCB won by five wickets in Ahmedabad, the veteran batsman stayed unbeaten at 75 off 42 balls. Although Kohli was observed having trouble running in the closing moments of the match, he managed to end it in style. Sources told Times Now that Kohli got injured during the final and that supposedly, scans revealed him having a distal semimembranosus tendon tear. In 16 games, Kohli scored 675 runs at a strike rate of 165.85 and an average of 56.25.
Indian Coach On Virat Kohli
Team India's Assistant Coach Ryan Ten Doeschate addressed Kohli's absence and said that the official statement on Virat Kohli will be coming out soon and that the absence of a player of his calibre is always a massive blow for the team. His remarks clarified that Kohli is injured and will be missing out on the Afghanistan series. As of now, it is still unclear how serious Kohli's injury is.
"Official communication will come on that, but it is always a big blow if players like Virat Kohli miss out," Ryan Ten Doeschate said during the pre-match press conference ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, India is also concerned about injuries to Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya in addition to Virat Kohli. The inclusion of both players in the India squad for the ODI series is dependent on their fitness. Due to injury, Rohit and Pandya missed a significant amount of IPL play for the Mumbai Indians. On June 13, the series will begin in Dharamsala. On June 17, the second ODI will take place in Lucknow, and on June 20, Chennai will host the final ODI. The teams will play a single Test on June 6 in Chandigarh before the ODI series.
India’s ODI Squad For Afghanistan Series
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma*, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya*, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey
