New Delhi: Young leg-spin all-rounder Vipraj Nigam is likely to replace in India’s squad. Chakravarthy was ruled out of the continental event due to a side strain.
The Asian Games are set to begin on September 19 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Chakravarthy suffered the injury during the first T20I of the three-match series against Afghanistan, which ruled the remaining matches. He is expected to remain sidelined for some time.
“Varun is out for an indefinite period of time. Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav were the two available options from the long list. Kuldeep will play the West Indies ODIs later this month,” a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The 22-year-old Nigam has played for Delhi Capitals in the IPL. He has picked up 13 wickets in the 19 matches played so far. He has also delivered with the bat in the league, scoring at a strike rate of around 176 in his IPL career. The men’s cricket competition of the 2026 Asian Games will start on September 24, while India will open their campaign in the quarterfinal stage on September 28.
Chakravarthy’s withdrawal is a massive setback for the Indian team as the 35-year-old had returned to the squad after recovering from a hamstring injury before the Afghanistan series. The spinner reported discomfort after the first T20I and was sent back to the BCCI Centre of Excellence for further assessment.
India’s likely squad for Asian Games 2026
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Thakur, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.