India star batter Virat Kohli is predicted to spend a while on the sidelines after reportedly suffering a hamstring tear towards the tip of the IPL 2026 season. Despite playing every match during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s successful title defence campaign, Kohli is now unlikely to feature within the upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan and England.
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate recently spoke about Kohli’s injury and the potential for him missing the upcoming one-off Test against Afghanistan.
“Official communication will come on that. It’s obviously big news when it’s someone like Virat or Rohit (is ruled out), but the identical protocols can be in place. We’ll assess the fitness of those guys, and we’ve got a number of days now to make your mind up whether or not they’re fit enough to play and be a part of the squad and make adjustments accordingly.”
”But I’m sure some official communication will come through as soon because the medical team has made a call on that,” he said during a pre-match press conference.
Virat Kohli played a vital role within the IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad, scoring an unbeaten half-century to assist RCB clinch their second title. Nevertheless, after an intense two-month-long campaign and the hamstring injury he reportedly picked up, the star batter will not be slot in time for India’s upcoming ODI commitments.
With only a two-week break between the tip of the IPL and the beginning of the ODI series against Afghanistan, his participation stays uncertain. As per a Times of India report, Kohli is believed to have suffered a ‘distal semimembranosus tendon tear’, an injury that might require greater than a month of recovery, putting his availability for the England tour in serious doubt as well.
“Virat Kohli is affected by a Hamstring tear injury he picked up in the course of the IPL. He won’t require a surgery. The injury would require 6 weeks healing time, which suggests he’s unlikely to feature within the three match ODI series in England as well,” the update mentions.
India’s three-match ODI series in England is about to get underway on July 14 following the conclusion of the five-match T20I series.
Virat Kohli Delivers One other Stellar IPL Season Ahead Of ODI Assignments
The experienced batter was instrumental in RCB’s title-winning campaign, amassing 675 runs at a median of 56.25 and a powerful strike rate of 165.84 to complete because the fourth-leading run-scorer of the tournament.
Kohli has enjoyed a superb yr to date, starting with a productive stint in domestic cricket before carrying that form into the house ODI series against Latest Zealand. The veteran has registered six scores of fifty or more in his last seven ODI innings.
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