India tour of England, Zimbabwe: Prince Yadav and Bishnoi named injury replacements |

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India’s white-ball plans have hit a significant bump following a double injury blow to their bowling department during the concluding stages of the Twenty20 International series against England at Trent Bridge. Fast bowler Harshit Rana and spinner Varun Chakaravarthy have both been sidelined with hamstring injuries, prompting the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to name Prince Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi as immediate replacements for the upcoming assignments in England and Zimbabwe.

The injuries occurred during a gruelling third T20I clash in Nottingham. Rana reported a sudden onset of discomfort in his right hamstring. Subsequent diagnostic scans revealed a Grade 1 hamstring tear, which automatically rules him out of the imminent three-match One-Day International series against England. Rana will return to India to report directly to the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) for structured rehabilitation and assessment.

In a mirrored stroke of misfortune, mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy suffered a similar fate during the same match, experiencing sudden discomfort in his left hamstring. His MRI scans presented a more severe diagnosis, confirming a Grade 2 hamstring injury. Following advice from medical specialists, Chakaravarthy has been pulled out of the upcoming T20I tour of Zimbabwe. Like Rana, he is slated to head straight to the COE to begin his recovery process.

The Ajit Agarkar-led seelction committee has moved swiftly to fill the voids. Prince Yadav has been handed a major opportunity, named as Rana’s replacement in the ODI squad facing England. The Delhi fast bowler arrives with strong recent momentum, having caught the selectors’ eye with a 16-wicket campaign for the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL before featuring in the recent home ODIs against Afghanistan and the T20Is in England.

Meanwhile, seasoned leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi takes over from Chakaravarthy for the T20Is in Harare. Bishnoi’s recall to the squad comes just days after he was dropped from the playing XI for the third T20I, a direct consequence of a torrid outing at Old Trafford where he leaked 60 runs across four boundary-laden overs.

The squad modifications come at a critical junction. The ODI team in England, captained by Shubman Gill and featuring veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, will look to find its rhythm quickly ahead of the first match at Edgbaston. Shreyas Iyer will serve as Gill’s vice-captain for the 50-over leg, before taking the captaincy reins entirely for the T20I squad traveling to Zimbabwe later this month.

India will be looking to end their losing streak on their tour of UK. On Saturday, England completed a 4-0 series win over India, displacing them from the top of the T20I rankings.

India’s updated squad for England ODIs: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav.

India’s updated squad for Zimbabwe T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (C), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Ravi Bishnoi.

ENGLAND vs INDIA ODI SCHEDULE