The Indian cricket team is facing a major injury crisis ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to begin on August 15. After left-handed batsman Sai Sudarshan was ruled out of the series due to injury, reports said that as many as 13 key players, including Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and captain Shubman Gill, are dealing with different injuries.
The situation has become a major concern for Team India, with the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru now handling the rehabilitation of several injured players.India performed strongly in the warm-up match against Sri Lanka, with Devdutt Padikkal scoring an impressive century, while KL Rahul made 40 runs and Ravindra Jadeja scored 63.
However, injuries to several players, including captain Shubman Gill, have increased concerns for the team management.India needs to win seven of its next nine Tests to remain in the race for the World Test Championship (WTC).
List of injured players
According to a report, several key Indian players are currently unavailable because of injuries:
- Jasprit Bumrah: Knee swelling
- Sai Sudarshan: Left toe injury
- Harshit Rana: Hamstring problem
- Nitish Kumar Reddy: Hamstring problem
- Washington Sundar: Quadriceps injury
- Akash Deep: Stress fracture in the lower back; expected to remain out for a long period
- Hardik Pandya: Quadriceps injury
- Varun Chakravarthy: Hamstring injury
- Prince Yadav: Hamstring injury
The report said that the Sports Science department at the Centre of Excellence has also been facing challenges. Since Nitin Patel resigned in early 2025, the department has reportedly not had a permanent head, increasing the workload on the sports science team.
BCCI takes action
Following the series of injuries, the BCCI has started taking steps to review the situation.BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia is scheduled to meet Cricket Head VVS Laxman at the Centre of Excellence on Sunday to review the rehabilitation and recovery of injured players.
It is not yet clear whether head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar will attend the meeting online.
There are also reports of differences between the Centre of Excellence and the selection committee over players’ fitness and their return timelines. Questions have reportedly been raised at times about players being released before they were fully fit.