India star batter Virat Kohli is expected to spend some time on the sidelines after reportedly suffering a hamstring tear towards the end of the IPL 2026 season. Despite playing every match during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s successful title defence campaign, Kohli is now unlikely to feature in the upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan and England.
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate recently spoke about Kohli’s injury and the possibility of 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 same protocols will be in place. We’ll assess the fitness of those guys, and we’ve got a few days now to decide whether they’re fit enough to play and be part of the squad and make adjustments accordingly.”
”But I’m sure some official communication will come through as soon as the medical team has made a decision on that,” he said during a pre-match press conference.
Virat Kohli played a crucial role in the IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad, scoring an unbeaten half-century to help RCB clinch their second title. However, after an intense two-month-long campaign and the hamstring injury he reportedly picked up, the star batter may not be fit in time for India’s upcoming ODI commitments.
With just a two-week break between the end of the IPL and the start of the ODI series against Afghanistan, his participation remains uncertain. As per a Times of India report, Kohli is believed to have suffered a ‘distal semimembranosus tendon tear’, an injury that could require more than a month of recovery, putting his availability for the England tour in serious doubt as well.
“Virat Kohli is suffering from a Hamstring tear injury he picked up during the IPL. He won’t require a surgery. The injury will require 6 weeks healing time, which means he is unlikely to feature in the three match ODI series in England as well,” the update mentions.
India’s three-match ODI series in England is set to get underway on July 14 following the conclusion of the five-match T20I series.
Virat Kohli Delivers Another Stellar IPL Season Ahead Of ODI Assignments
The experienced batter was instrumental in RCB’s title-winning campaign, amassing 675 runs at an average of 56.25 and an impressive strike rate of 165.84 to finish as the fourth-leading run-scorer of the tournament.
Kohli has enjoyed an excellent year so far, beginning with a productive stint in domestic cricket before carrying that form into the home ODI series against New Zealand. The veteran has registered six scores of fifty or more in his last seven ODI innings.
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