India go into the second T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on September 15 with a 1-0 series lead but one fewer bowling option than they started the series with: Varun Chakaravarthy has been ruled out of the remainder of the three-match series with a side injury picked up during the series-opening win.
Chakaravarthy bowled a tidy 1 for 16 off his four overs in the first T20I on September 13 before reporting discomfort, and an MRI scan confirmed a side strain, according to ESPNcricinfo and other outlets. He will miss both remaining T20Is, on September 15 and 17, and reports covering the injury describe him as highly doubtful for the Asian Games later this month as well. The BCCI had not issued a formal statement on the injury as of the time of these reports. It is the third fitness setback of the year for the spinner: a foot injury during IPL 2026 ruled him out of India's T20I series in Ireland, which India lost 2-0, and a hamstring injury suffered during the third T20I of India's tour of England in July ended his involvement in the back end of that series too.
Rather than draft in a new face, India are expected to turn to spin options already in the squad: Ravi Bishnoi is the likely straight replacement in the XI as a fellow wrist-spinner, with Washington Sundar — himself only recently back from a leg injury on the England tour — available to offer batting depth if India prefer that balance. Both already featured in the series opener, giving India tested options to turn to rather than a debutant walking into an unfamiliar role.
India's 1-0 lead came via a seven-wicket win built on Abhishek Sharma's 82 off 32 and an early breakthrough from a returning Jasprit Bumrah, who took a wicket with his first ball back from a knee injury. Afghanistan will target a more competitive total after being reduced to 43 for 5 inside seven overs in the opener, a position Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi rescued with an 83-run stand that got them to a defendable-looking 156 that India chased down with more than six overs unused.
With India having won eight of their previous nine T20I meetings with Afghanistan and already 1-0 up, Chakaravarthy's injury matters less for tonight's result than for what it reveals about India's spin-bowling depth heading into the Asian Games later this month, where the men's squad overlaps heavily with this T20I group. A third injury in a calendar year for a bowler India rely on as a wrist-spin specialist is a genuine selection headache even if Bishnoi covers the role adequately in Delhi, and it adds an extra data point to weigh when India's selectors finalise squads for both the West Indies series and the Asian Games in the coming days.
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Chakaravarthy's injury status, the series scoreline and match figures are verified against same-day reporting from ESPNcricinfo and other outlets, current as of September 15, 2026.
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