Injured Kohli replaced by Yashasvi in ODI series against Afghanistan
Star batter Virat Kohli will miss India’s three-match ODI series against Afghanistan later this month after failing to recover from a hamstring injury, and the selectors on Saturday named Yashasvi Jaiswal as his replacement.
The three ODIs will be played at Dharamsala, Lucknow and Chennai on June 13, 17 and 20 respectively. Kohli, who plays only one format after retiring from Test and T20, had suffered a hamstring injury during the recent IPL final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad. Kohli had made an unbeaten 75 to fire RCB to their second IPL title in a row. “With Virat, at this point, it’s just been less than a week since he injured himself in the finals. We will assess him (but) we don’t know the timelines yet,” chief selector Ajit Agarkar told reporters during a press conference at the BCCI headquarters. “Yashasvi will be his replacement. But it looks like he (Kohli) might be fit for that England one-day series (in July) but again, it’s not a definitive answer.
“So, don’t hold me to it. I haven’t had a clear timeline from the physio yet,” Agarkar added. An all-format player for India, Jaiswal has only played four ODIs since making his debut against England in February 2025. The left-hander had scored a match-winning 116 — his maiden ODI ton — against South Africa at Visakhapatnam.
Meanwhile, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said former skipper Rohit Sharma will be heading to the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where all-rounder Hardik Pandya is nearing completion of his rehabilitation.
“Hardik is in COE Bangalore. He is going to a rehabilitation programme and very soon he will go for the final phase (of recuperation) and will be in the process of clearance,” Saikia said. Pandya has been named in the ODI squad to face Afghanistan but he was omitted from squads to tour Ireland and England, and for the Asian Games, keeping his workload in the 50-over format in mind. Former skipper Rohit, who also now plays only the one-dayers, too suffered a hamstring injury during the IPL, which restricted his appearances for Mumbai Indians to just nine matches this season.
