Harshit Rana ruled out of Afghanistan T20Is and Asian Games, Yash Thakur named replacement

Vidarbha pacer Yash Thakur has been added to India’s squads for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan (starting September 13) and the forthcoming Asian Games. This will be Thakur’s second T20I series, having made his international debut against Zimbabwe in July.

Thakur's impressive performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last year, in which he took 18 wickets in seven matches, earned him a call-up to the India team. He picked up four wickets from two matches at an economy rate of 9.37 on the subsequent tour to Zimbabwe.

After suffering another injury, Harshit Rana, who was recuperating at the Centre of Excellence from a hamstring injury, was ruled out. The BCCI has confirmed the injury to be a rectus femoris strain that occurred on September 7 while bowling during a match simulation.

The updated squad now includes Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Jasprit Bumrah, all of whom were awaiting fitness clearance for the Afghanistan T20Is. Before the Asian Games, India will also play a historic one-off T20I against Japan.

Updated India squad for Afghanistan T20Is and Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma (vc), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur