Mumbai: Times of India has reliably learned that the selection of the Indian Test squad for the two Tests in Sri Lanka in August has been affected by a host of injuries and fitness issues among several key players. BCCI The national selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, will announce the squad for the Test tour by Tuesday, secretary Devajit Saikia told TOI on Saturday.The first Test of the series will be held in Galle from August 15 to 19 and the second Test will be held at the SSC in Colombo from August 23 to 27.In a big blow for India considering there are likely to be spin-friendly pitches in both the Tests, spin all-rounder Washington Sundar has been ruled out of the first Test due to a right hamstring injury, according to BCCI sources.
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His availability for the second Test depends on fitness. Sundar was ruled out of the third and final ODI at Lord’s Stadium in England on July 19 and was replaced by left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey after suffering an injury in the second ODI in Cardiff. Another big issue is that ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who injured his left knee during the second ODI against England in Cardiff, has also been ruled out of England’s third ODI and is likely to be selected based on the ‘fitness’ clause. Bumrah has been asked to rest till July 30, after which he will report to the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru.India’s Test number three Sudarsan is also likely to be selected on a “fitness-subject” clause, although he is understood to be “recovering well”. Sudarsan’s availability for this series will be crucial considering his good form over the past few months. The Tamil Nadu and Gujarat Titans left-hand bowler recently scored 132 and 168 runs respectively in India A’s four-day tour of duty against Sri Lanka on the ‘shadow tour’ of Lanka and scored 81 runs against Afghanistan in the one-off Test at New Chandigarh in June. The nature of his injuries is unclear at this time. “ER” doesn’t end there. Pace bowling all-rounders Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy are unavailable for the tour as they have failed to recover from injuries so far. Rana was ruled out of the ODI series against England due to a Grade 1 biceps femoris strain (hamstring injury). The setback comes after he recently recovered from a severe right knee ligament strain and surgery that sidelined him for four months, causing him to miss the 2026 T20 World Cup and IPL-2026. Reddy, meanwhile, is still recovering from a left quadriceps injury that caused him to miss India’s recent white-ball tours against Ireland, England and Zimbabwe. He suffered the injury while bowling in the home ODI series against Afghanistan in June.Fast bowler Prince Yadav became the latest Indian player to suffer an injury on Saturday as he clutched his left hamstring during the second T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare and left the field midway through the match. Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is still recovering from back spasms and quadriceps strain. Test fast bowler Akash has missed the entire IPL-2026 due to a recurrence of stress reaction in his lower back. He was initially expected to miss eight to 12 weeks before undergoing a three-month rehabilitation program in Bengaluru.After England lost the ODI series 2-1, India captain Shubman Gill said that if the team wants to remain a strong contender in the 2027 ODI World Cup, they cannot afford to have players get injured every few games. “If you look at the first team we announced [for the England ODI series]since at least five players did not participate in this game. If one player is injured you think about playing another combination, two players are injured you think about playing another combination, but if one player is out after every game then we are missing a trick somewhere,” he said.“If you take the World Cup as a goal, we have to play 11 games in a row and the players here are not able to complete a two- or three-game series. So our players are not able to play in a row and they will play one or two games and they will get into trouble and then we are forced to play different combinations that we were not originally going to play and there are some Limited. So, keeping all these thoughts in mind, it becomes a little bit difficult for you to come to the field in the morning and get to know a player, so it’s almost like you want to take a chance? A certain player is at 80% fitness and you’re playing with five bowlers, and if this player gets out after bowling five overs, who is going to bowl? So as a team we need to improve our fitness and all that. ”
| player | Availability status | Fitness/Update |
|---|---|---|
| washington sundar | Unable to take the first test | Availability of a second test depends on medical condition. |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Subject to physical fitness | will rest until July 30after which he will Center of Excellence (COE) Make an assessment. |
| Sai Sudarsan | Subject to physical fitness | He is recovering well and is being monitored. |
| Harshit Rana | Not available | Excluded from selection. |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | Not available | Excluded from selection. |
