Another name on the treatment table: Sundar's Sri Lanka Test tour hangs in the balance

Washington Sundar's participation in India's upcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka has been thrown into serious doubt after the hamstring injury that ended his involvement in the ODI series against England. The all-rounder, a key figure in India's plans across formats, now faces a race against time to prove his fitness before the red-ball assignment gets under way in August.

His setback adds another name to a lengthening injury list that has left the team management scrambling for combinations and prompted a public warning from captain Shubman Gill.

How the injury unfolded

Sundar sustained the hamstring problem during the second ODI in Cardiff, an issue serious enough to rule him out of the series decider at Lord's. With the three-match contest level at 1-1, the timing could scarcely have been worse for a side already stretched thin.

The BCCI moved quickly to draft in cover, with left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey added to the squad for the final match. Dubey, who made his India debut earlier this year against Afghanistan and impressed with four wickets in two matches, also enjoyed a productive IPL 2026 campaign with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The Sri Lanka question

The greater concern now surrounds the tour of Sri Lanka, where India are scheduled to play a two-match Test series beginning in Galle in August. Sundar's value in subcontinental conditions is considerable, offering both a genuine spin-bowling option and lower-order batting depth.

Whether he recovers in time remains unclear. It is worth noting that no official announcement has been made regarding his availability or any replacement for the Test squad, and reports of alternatives being lined up should be treated as speculation until the BCCI confirms its plans.

A troubling pattern

This is not the first fitness scare Sundar has endured in recent months. He suffered a rib injury during the ODI series against New Zealand in Vadodara in January, which ruled him out of the remainder of that series and the subsequent T20Is.

He consulted a leading orthopaedic surgeon in Mumbai before checking into the Centre of Excellence to begin rehabilitation, and his fitness became a significant talking point in the build-up to the T20 World Cup. That history of interruptions makes the latest setback all the more frustrating for a player still working to establish himself as a fixture across formats.

Part of a wider crisis

Sundar is far from alone on the sidelines. India's tour of the UK was hit by a succession of injuries, with Jasprit Bumrah missing the Lord's decider through reactive swelling in his left knee, Harshit Rana ruled out with a hamstring problem picked up in the T20I series, and Nitish Kumar Reddy failing to travel at all after a quadriceps injury.

Varun Chakaravarthy was also lost to a Grade 2 hamstring tear, while Hardik Pandya remains absent with a leg injury. The cumulative effect has been a side unable to field anything close to its strongest XI at any point on tour.

Gill sounds the alarm

The situation prompted a pointed intervention from Shubman Gill after the series defeat. The captain noted that a minimum of five players from the originally announced squad did not feature in the decider, and warned that if a player is missing after every match, then somewhere the team is missing a trick.

Framing the issue around the 2027 World Cup, Gill observed that India will need to play eleven matches in a row at that tournament, yet at present players are unable to complete a series of two or three games. He called for a collective focus on fitness involving both the squad and the BCCI medical team.

What it means for the selectors

Should Sundar be unavailable, India's selectors will need to reassess the balance of their Test squad for Galle. His absence would remove a spin-bowling all-rounder who offers control with the ball and genuine runs down the order — a combination not easily replicated.

India already possess strong spin resources for subcontinental conditions, but the specific role Sundar fills gives the side flexibility in how it constructs its XI. Clarity is likely to emerge once he completes assessment at the Centre of Excellence.

The final word

For Washington Sundar, this is another unwelcome interruption at a stage of his career when continuity matters most. For India, it is one more entry on an injury list that has become impossible to ignore. With a demanding schedule stretching ahead and a World Cup on the horizon, the priority must be ensuring their key players are fit and available when it counts — rather than watching from the sidelines, as so many have been in recent weeks.