MUMBAI: India’s Test squad selection for the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka in August has been hit by several injury concerns and fitness issues among several key players, TOI has learned. BCCI: Secretary Devajit Saikia told TOI on Saturday that the national selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, will announce the squad for the Test tour on Tuesday.The first Test of the series will be held in Galle from August 15-19, while the second Test will take place at SSC in Colombo from August 23-27.According to BCCI sources, in a big blow for India considering that there are likely to be spin-friendly pitches in both Tests, off-spinning allrounder Washington Sundar will not be available for the first Test due to a right hamstring injury.
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His availability for the second Test is subject to fitness. Sundar was left out of the third and final ODI at Lord’s in England on July 19 and was replaced by left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey after suffering an injury during the second ODI in Cardiff. In another major concern, ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who also missed the third ODI in England after he sustained an impact injury to his left knee while fielding in the second ODI against England in Cardiff, is likely to be selected under the “subject to fitness” clause. Bumrah has been asked to rest till July 30, after which he will report to BCCI’s Center of Excellence in Bengaluru.Test No. 3 of India’s Sai Sudharsan can also be selected under the ‘Subject to fitness’ clause, although he is known to be “recovering well.” Sudharsan’s availability for the series is crucial as he has been in good form for the past few months. The Tamil Nadu & Gujarat Titans left-hander scored centuries (132 & 168) in two four-day matches for India A against Sri Lanka on their ‘shadow tour’ of Lanka recently, and scored 81 against Afghanistan in a one-off Test in June at New Chandigarh. The nature of his injury is not yet known. The “casualty ward” did not end there. Pace bowling allrounders Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy will not be available for the tour after failing to recover from their injuries so far. Rana has been ruled out of the ODI series against England due to a Grade 1 biceps femoris muscle strain (hamstring injury). The setback followed his recent comeback from a major right knee ligament strain and surgery that sidelined him for four months, ruling him out of the 2026 T20 World Cup and IPL-2026. On the other hand, Reddy is still recovering from a left quadriceps injury, which caused him to miss India’s recent white-ball tours of Ireland, England and Zimbabwe. He picked up the injury while bowling against Afghanistan in the home ODI series in June, a.On Saturday, fast bowler Prince Yadav became the latest Indian player to suffer an injury, walking off in the middle after clutching his left hamstring during the second T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare. Star allrounder Hardik Pandya is still recovering from back spasms and quadriceps strain. Test fast bowler Akash has been ruled out for the entire IPL-2026 after suffering a recurrence of a stress reaction in the lower back. He was initially expected to be sidelined for eight to 12 weeks before undergoing a three-month recovery program in Bengaluru.After losing the ODI series 2-1 to England, India captain Shubman Gill said the team cannot afford to have players injured every few matches if they want to remain a strong contender in the 2027 ODI World Cup. “If you look at the first squad we announced [for the England ODI series]from that minimum five players did not play this match. If one player is injured, you look at playing in a different combination, two players are injured you look at playing in a different combination, but if after every game there is a missing player somewhere we are missing a trick,” he said.“If you keep the World Cup as a goal where we have to play 11 games in a row and here we have players who cannot finish a series of two to three games. So there are some limitations where our players cannot play continuously, they play one or two games, they suffer a niggle and then we are forced to play a different combination that we initially did not plan to play all this.ground in the morning and you know a player has a niggle, then it’s almost like you want to chance a player who is 80% fit, you play with five bowlers and if this player gets out after bowling five overs, then who will bowl? So as a group we need to improve our fitness and all that stuff. ”
| Players: | Availability status: | Fitness/Updates: |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Sundar | Not available for 1st Test | Availability for the 2nd Test depends on health. |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Low energy | Rest until: 30 July:after that he will report to Center of Excellence (COE) for assessment. |
| Sai Sudharsan | Low energy | Careful and guarded. |
| Harshit Rana | Unavailable: | Forbidden to choose. |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | Unavailable: | Forbidden to choose. |