Samson and Bumrah recalled as Hardik Pandya omitted from India T20I squad for Afghanistan series
Sanju Samson and Jasprit Bumrah have been recalled to India’s squad for the T20I series against Afghanistan in Delhi, which begins on September 13, while Hardik Pandya has been left out of the selection. Bumrah’s participation remains subject to fitness clearance.
Samson returns to the side after missing the Zimbabwe series alongside Varun Chakravarthy. Varun, described in reports as the spinner, suffered a hamstring injury during the England tour and had been at the BCCI Centre of Excellence alongside Bumrah, Harshit Rana and Hardik as part of recovery work. The availability of Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana will also depend on fitness and receiving clearance to play.
Shreyas Iyer will continue as captain with Tilak Varma named vice-captain. The squad announced was: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*. The asterisks beside four names denote that their selection is contingent on fitness and clearance.
Hardik last represented India in the T20 World Cup final this year and his most recent on-field appearance came for Mumbai Indians during IPL 2026 on May 24. He had been initially named in India’s three-match ODI squad for the home series against Afghanistan but withdrew because of a leg strain. That withdrawal was followed by a spell out of subsequent white-ball assignments.
The leg issue also kept Hardik out of India’s white-ball tours in Ireland and England, where the team played a total of eight T20Is and three ODIs. Since that initial setback he has been training at the BCCI Centre Of Excellence to regain full fitness. According to a Times Of India report, Hardik suffered a leg niggle before the squad was announced; he had returned to full fitness and was training intensely at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, but the latest niggle has forced him to stop bowling.
BCCI’s press release naming the squad made no mention of Hardik and did not provide a timeline for his return. The latest setback for Hardik has renewed scrutiny of the BCCI Centre of Excellence; he has been based in Bengaluru longer than other players and reportedly shifted his base to the city in a bid to regain full fitness. Questions have resurfaced about communication between the CoE’s sports science and medical teams and the senior men’s selection committee, with Jasprit Bumrah’s absence from the Sri Lanka Test series cited as a recent point of concern.
Selectors were reportedly under the impression Bumrah would be fit for the Sri Lanka series scheduled to begin on August 15 but were later informed the pacer’s injury was more serious, forcing him out of that assignment. The BCCI has been operating without a permanent head of sports science since Nitin Patel stepped down, and interim sports science chief Dhananjay Kaushik is currently overseeing the department at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. Kaushik is said to bring considerable experience to the role, but concerns have been raised about rehabilitation timelines and whether 'Return to Play' procedures are being applied uniformly.
The series against Afghanistan is being treated as an away assignment and will run from September 13 to September 17.
