In-form India batter Suryakumar Yadav was on Wednesday ruled out of the three-match T20 International series against Sri Lanka owing to a hairline fracture on his hand.
The Team India camp is currently beset with injuries. Soon after a hamstring injury ruled pacer Deepak Chahar out of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, which begins with the first game on Thursday at Lucknow, it has emerged that star batsman Suryakumar Yadav too will not be available for the series due to a hairline fracture on his hand.
At this late stage, with the bio-bubble protocols in place, the BCCI is unlikely to announce a replacement for both Chahar and Yadav.
The squad size has now been reduced to 16. The last two T20Is will be played in Dharamsala on February 26 and 27.
The 31-year-old Yadav had smashed a 31-ball 65 against the West Indies in the third T20I at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
Chahar, who sustained a hamstring injury while bowling in the third T20I against the West Indies, will now head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
“Deepak sustained a right quadriceps injury during bowling while Suryakumar suffered a hairline fracture during a fielding attempt in the third and final T20I against the West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in the statement.
“They will now head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further management of their injuries,” he added.
The series starts in Lucknow on Thursday and Yadav’s injury was confirmed to PTI by a BCCI source.
Yadav, who was adjudged Player of the Series in the preceding T20Is against the West Indies, is the second Indian player to be forced out of the Sri Lanka series after pacer Deepak Chahar.
Chahar was ruled out of the games in Lucknow and Dharamsala after picking up a hamstring injury.
The 31-year-old Yadav was seen at India’s practice session here on Tuesday.
He may have suffered the injury while fielding during the third and final T20 International against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens last week.
The BCCI has not named any replacements for the two injured players as options are available with the team.
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Suryakumar Yadav IPL teams: The Indian batter is representing the national team on the back of stellar Indian Premier League performances.
India batter Suryakumar Yadav has all but cemented a batting position in the middle-order for white-ball formats. Playing his 12th T20I innings, Yadav scored his fourth half-century to power India to 184/5 in 20 overs in the third T20I against West Indies in Kolkata.
Batting at the home ground of his previous Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, Yadav made the most of familiar batting conditions to score 65 (31) with the help of a four and seven sixes.
Coming in to bat at No. 5 at the halfway mark, Yadav soon witnessed captain Rohit Sharma (7) failing in his experiment to demote himself in the batting order.
It was at this point in time Yadav joined hands with all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer (35*) to put together a 37-ball 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket. As a result, India scored as many as 86 runs in the last five overs.
Yadav, who didn’t get to play another match for Mumbai that season, made his debut for KKR in 2014. Between 2014-2017, Yadav scored 608 runs in 54 IPL matches at an average and strike rate of 22.52 and 131.89 respectively including a half-century for Kolkata.
While these numbers were decent, Yadav couldn’t really make a name for himself despite being named Knight Riders’ vice-captain at one point in time.
It was only after Yadav rejoined Indians in 2018 that he matched his sound domestic performances with game-changing IPL numbers. Since then, Yadav’s 1,733 IPL runs have come at an average and strike rate of 32.70 and 137.54 respectively including 12 half-centuries.