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The India National Cricket Team will be up against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team for a three-match ODI series. After thumping the Afghans by an innings and 300 runs in the one-off Test, Shubman Gill’s side will be looking for a clean sweep in the 50-over format as well. Ahead of the match on Saturday, Rohit Sharma has joined the side and batted in the nets.
As per the reports from India Today, the former all-format captain joined India's camp at IS Bindra Stadium. suffered a hamstring injury during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, and due to this, Rohit Sharma was at the Centre of Excellence on June 8. However, he showed no signs of difficulty during an optional training session in Mohali.
Rohit fully fit to play against Afghanistan
Before starting the session, Rohit spoke with India's strength and conditioning coach, Adrian Le Roux. After that, Rohit and Ishan Kishan did some light warm-up runs together. The 39-year-old completed approximately five sets with no signs of pain or niggle. This indicates that Rohit Sharma is fully fit and rearing to go against Afghanistan on the weekend.
Rohit Sharma looked rusty on the open nets against the likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy, Gurnoor Brar, and Prince Yadav. All the bowlers troubled him early on as he was beaten on the outside edge and sometimes mistimed some shots before eventually getting back into the rhythm as he pulled some shots and some didn’t connect against Brar’s shot ball.
Rohit Sharma looked rusty
After that, he looked comfortable and batted around for 45 minutes against pacers, later chatted with India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, and then moved to the spinners’ nets as he faced Harsh Dubey, but the main attraction during the net session was him hitting straight sixes against an off-spinner. He will look to score some big runs and provide himself with some confidence.
Virat Kohli and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya have been ruled out of the ODI series against Afghanistan. Kohli suffered a hamstring injury during the IPL 2026 final, while Pandya suffered an injury while doing rehab at the CoE, as he picked it up at the last minute after being declared fit. The Mumbai Indians captain sustained a new foot injury, forcing him to miss the three-match ODI series.
Yashasvi Jaiswal replaces Virat Kohli
India has named Yashasvi Jaiswal as the replacement for Virat Kohli in the upcoming series. The southpaw was dropped from the team despite scoring a hundred in his last ODI game against New Zealand. However, it is not clear whether Jaiswal will open with Rohit Sharma and Gill to bat at No. 3, fulfilling the vacancy of Kohli.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not named a replacement for Hardik Pandya; however, it is believed that Nitish Kumar Reddy will be the obvious choice to start the game.
India's ODI Squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey.
