Jasprit Bumrah's last T20I outing was the 2026 T20 WC final | PC- AFP
A day after BCCI announced the 15-member T20I squad for the Afghanistan series, a massive development over Jasprit Bumrah and Nitish Kumar Reddy's fitness has come to light.
The Indian board, on the Centre of Excellence (CoE)'s recommendation, picked Bumrah, Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana as conditional picks despite all four players returning from injuries.
Notably, Team India lost a long list of cricketers to injuries during the recent tour of Ireland and England, resulting in the Men in Blue winning just a solitary fixture out of 10 matches.
Harshit Rana’s curious case prompts BCCI to adopt stricter fitness policy
As reported by Cricbuzz, the CoE wants to be 200% sure about a player's fitness before giving the green signal to the team management, especially after Harshit Rana's breakdown in England, coming after a five-month rehabilitation.
Rana missed the 2026 T20 World Cup and the IPL season following that, due to a right knee ligament strain/tear. After a long hiatus, he was included in the white-ball squads for the UK tour, but only to break down during the England T20Is with a Grade 1 bicep femoris (hamstring) muscle tear.
Also Read: Deserving Players Who Missed Out On India's Squad For Afghanistan T20I Series 2026
“The newly-adopted policy is because of lessons learnt from past instances. Harshit Rana’s case is a prime example,” the report said. “Not just 100 per cent, but they want to be 200 per cent confident about a player’s availability before releasing him.”
Bumrah, Reddy cleared! Fitness doubts Lingering over Rana, Sundar
A lot has been said about the curious case of Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness in recent times. The Indian team management tends to be cautious with the ace pacer, given his history with injuries.
With back-to-back T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026, Bumrah was asked to focus solely on the shortest format, resulting in an axile from the ODI format for nearly three years. He returned to the 50-over format during the England ODIs, but got injured before the final match.
He was later picked for the two-match Tests in Sri Lanka, but Auqib Nabi replaced him at the last minute. Meanwhile, the same happened to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who injured himself during the Afghanistan ODIs but was replaced at the last minute by Suryansh Shedge.
The selectors are confident about Bumrah and Reddy, but not about Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar for the IND vs AFG T20Is.
“Bumrah should be available for the matches, although there is an asterisk against his name in the release. The same applies to Reddy. The cases of Rana and Sundar are not clear yet,” the report added.
BCCI's faith continued in Shreyas Iyer despite UK hara-kiri
Team India transitioned from Suryakumar Yadav to Shreyas Iyer as the T20I captain after the former lifted the coveted T20 World Cup trophy. However, the transition didn't have a honeymoon beginning, as Iyer took eight games to bag his maiden victory as India captain.
After losing to Ireland and England, Shreyas Iyer’s side whitewashed Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. The BCCI has decided to continue keeping their hopes in Iyer, as he was retained as captain for the Afghanistan series.
That said, the upcoming series won’t be easy for Team India, as the former Afghanistan mentor warned earlier.
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