An all-rounder for India, Hardik Pandya is reportedly ruled out from the upcoming three-match ODI series against Afghanistan after hurting his leg during a practice session at the BCCI’s Center of Excellence in Bengaluru last week.

Hardik was included in India’s ODI squad for the Afghanistan series but only subject to him passing a fitness test. He was supposed to link up with the squad in Chandigarh after India’s one-off Test versus Afghanistan. But another injury lay-off has left his availability for the match in doubt.

Although officially the BCCI has not confirmed his pulling out, secretary Devajit Saikia had recently said Hardik was at the Centre of Excellence for rehabilitation. Her injury status is unclear but she made it sound fairly serious. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is already in the squad, could come in as a cover for Hardik if he is ruled out.

The injury only compounds a difficult time for Hardik who had fitness issues in the last couple of years. Due to back spasms, he played in just 10 of the Mumbai Indians’s 14 games in IPL 2026. Since then has not featured in a single game until fit to return for the club’s final game on 24 May.

Hardik is still a vital cog in India’s plans for the 2027 ODI World Cup which thus has already been allocated to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia despite frequent injury troubles over recent times. That is why they had kept him out of the T20I squad to manage his workload and focus on white-ball cricket with a long-term goal in mind.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar, however, had stated that the team management will not take risks with Hardik’s workload and keep him fit for the ODI format. Agarkar emphasised on rotation, saying that Hardik should be rested from T20 internationals whenever required and added he could also come back in the shortest format at a later stage.