In what has come as unwanted and a surprising news, Virat Kohli has been ruled out of India’s upcoming one-day international series against Afghanistan. The series, which was set to begin on June 13 in Dharamsala, will not feature Kohli, who misses out due to a hamstring injury.
It was only yesterday when we got to know that the ODI players, including Kohli and Rohit Sharma, will gather in Mullanpur on June 9 for a short camp before the bilateral series kicks on. However, there weren’t even any rumours that Kohli could miss out. While the BCCI hasn’t made it official yet, the news of Kohli skipping the Afghanistan series is all but confirmed. We last saw the modern-day master dominate the IPL 2026 final as he won the Player of the Match in the summit clash to take RCB back-to-back.
Why is Virat Kohli ruled out of AFG ODIs?
For those unaware, Kohli carried a hamstring injury at the IPL 2026. With RCB already missing Phil Salt and having a world of momentum on their side, Kohli decided not to skip any games for his franchise. However, that has perhaps got to him. He has asked to skip the upcoming three ODIs against Afghanistan so that he recovers in time and marches towards the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Kohli last played for India almost four months ago (January 18) in an ODI series against New Zealand. He has been quite influential in ODIs despite the fact that the former Indian captain plays just one format. After taking retirement from Tests and quitting T20I in 2024, there were apprehensions if Kohli would continue to master ODIs.
His desire to lift the 2027 ODI World Cup has kept him motivated, and we even saw him play some Vijay Hazare Trophy games as well. Same goes for Rohit Sharma as well. However, Kohli has been incredible in the format once again, scoring the most runs in ODIs since his retirement. Not just this; he has taken his strike rate game to another level, adapting to the modern-day requirements.
Most runs for India in ODIs (since Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli’s Test retirements)
| Batter | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | SR | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 9 | 616 | 135 | 88 | 106.39 | 3 | 3 |
| Rohit Sharma | 9 | 409 | 121* | 51.12 | 91.29 | 1 | 3 |
| KL Rahul | 7 | 317 | 112* | 79.25 | 120.07 | 1 | 2 |
| Shubman Gill | 6 | 178 | 56 | 29.66 | 91.28 | 0 | 2 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 3 | 156 | 116* | 78 | 89.14 | 1 | 0 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 5 | 132 | 61 | 26.4 | 75.42 | 0 | 1 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | 2 | 113 | 105 | 56.5 | 116.49 | 1 | 0 |
Who could replace Virat Kohli?
It is awful news since Kohli had form on his side. In the recently concluded IPL 2026, he was superb. The RCB opener hammered 675 runs at SR 165.8, which is easily his most attacking season. In the final against GT, a 37-year-old Kohli brought out a 25-ball fifty, the fastest of his entire storied IPL career. All this despite not being at his 100 per cent. Massive respect to the man who went 17 years without a title to winning two consecutively.
Now, the main question arises on Kohli’s replacement. Who will be the one to take that number three spot, albeit on a temporary basis? Well, the answer might not be as simple. India played Ruturaj Gaikwad in the series against South Africa not long ago when Shreyas Iyer was unavailable. He repaid the faith by smashing a tremendous century but was eventually dropped when Iyer came in.
Now, ideally, he should be the one to be drafted to fill Kohli’s number. However, just recently, he has replaced Riyan Parag in India A’s squad for the tri-nation series. But with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh all being there, Gaikwad might not even start for India A. Hence, it could be wise from the BCCI to pull Gaikwad out of the ‘A’ series and slot in the ODIs against Afghanistan.
Another option could be Sanju Samson, who has done exceeding well in recent times. He literally won India the T20 World Cup 2026 with three outstanding knocks before dishing out a great IPL 2026 as well. In his CSK’s debut season, Samson hammered 477 runs at 43.36 and at a strike rate of 165.63. What the management could also do is play Ishan Kishan at three while bringing someone like Yashasvi Jaiswal to the squad as well.
India’s squad for AFG ODIs
Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington, Kuldeep, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Hardik Pandya
Cricket
No Virat Kohli in IND vs AFG ODIs as IPL 2026 winner gets ruled out due to injury
