Varun Chakravarthy misses the rest of the Afghanistan T20Is with a side strain

India's wrist-spinner lasted one match of his comeback series before scans confirmed a side strain, ruling him out of the rest of the Afghanistan T20Is in Delhi

Varun Chakravarthy has been ruled out of India's remaining Twenty20 internationals against Afghanistan after scans confirmed a side strain, a setback that has arrived a single match into a return he waited two months for.

The 35-year-old bowled his full allocation in the series opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, finishing with 1-16 as India won by seven wickets. The discomfort was picked up during that match and the diagnosis confirmed the following day.

"Yes, Varun is ruled out of the series against Afghanistan. Scans have confirmed that he's picked up a side strain," a source told the news agency IANS. India had not named a replacement on the eve of the second match.

One game back from a long rehabilitation

Chakravarthy had not played for India since July, when a grade two hamstring injury during the third T20I against England cost him the last two matches of that series.

The same injury kept him out of the tour of Zimbabwe that followed, and he spent close to two months rehabilitating at the BCCI Centre of Excellence before being cleared to play again.

He was named in the 15-man squad for the Afghanistan series on that clearance, and the opener in Delhi was his first international of the second half of the year.

India's spin stocks thin out

His absence leaves Ravi Bishnoi as the only other specialist spinner in the squad, with Axar Patel and Washington Sundar the spin-bowling all-rounders available to Shreyas Iyer.

Afghanistan arrive with the deeper spin attack on paper, and India go into the second match without the bowler they have most often trusted with the middle overs in this format.

Iyer, leading India in a home T20I series for the first time, therefore has a bowling combination to settle before the toss rather than the unchanged side a seven-wicket win would normally invite.

Chakravarthy conceded only 16 runs from his four overs on Sunday, an economy rate of four an over, and dismissed one batter.

A season of interruptions

The side strain is the latest in a run of injuries across 2026. During IPL 2026 with Kolkata Knight Riders he sustained a hairline fracture in his left foot, and the hamstring problem followed on England's tour.

India have been without him for long stretches of a year in which they have been rebuilding their T20 side, and his availability has rarely been settled for more than one series at a time.

It is the third time this year that an injury has either cut short or ruled him out of an assignment, and the second since the English summer alone.

Asian Games availability in doubt

The injury also puts his place at the Asian Games in Japan in question, with no timeline yet given for his recovery.

The board has not stated how long he is expected to be out, and no update on the Asian Games squad had been issued by the time the second T20I came around.

Afghanistan still chasing a first win

Afghanistan were reduced to 43 for 5 inside seven overs in the opener before Azmatullah Omarzai's unbeaten 64 from 44 balls and Mohammad Nabi's 33 lifted them to 156 for 8. Arshdeep Singh took 3-19.

Abhishek Sharma then made 82 from 32 balls with seven fours and seven sixes, and India knocked the runs off inside 14 overs.

"We batted well in the middle overs but didn't put up a good score," Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said afterwards, adding that "they're the best fielding side". Afghanistan are still waiting for a first T20I win over India.

India lead the three-match series 1-0 and can seal it with a win in the second T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday evening.

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