{"id":707,"date":"2026-06-13T00:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/?p=707"},"modified":"2026-06-13T00:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:19:07","slug":"why-virat-kohli-is-not-playing-the-first-odi-against-afghanistan-in-dharamsala-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/?p=707","title":{"rendered":"Why Virat Kohli is not playing the first ODI against Afghanistan in Dharamsala | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131685157,imgsize-46402,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/virat-kohli-1206-pti.jpg\" alt=\"Why Virat Kohli is not playing the first ODI against Afghanistan in Dharamsala\" title=\"Virat Kohli (PTI Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: Team India, led by Shubman Gill, are all set to begin their preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup with a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, starting at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>India head into the series brimming with confidence after recording their biggest-ever Test victory &#8211; an innings and 300-run demolition of Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Mullanpur earlier this week.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"5\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"7\"\/>However, the hosts will be without one of their biggest stars, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/player-profile\/virat-kohli\/3993\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Virat Kohli<\/a>.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Why is Virat Kohli not playing against Afghanistan?<br \/><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>Kohli has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series due to a hamstring injury. The injury comes at a time when the former India captain has been in outstanding form in the 50-over format.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>Having retired from T20 Internationals in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025, Kohli has shifted his complete focus to ODI cricket. The move has paid rich dividends, with the veteran batter continuing to dominate attacks around the world.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/>Since the start of 2025, Kohli has scored 891 ODI runs at an impressive average of 68.53, including four centuries and five half-centuries. He carried that form into 2026 as well, scoring 240 runs in just three matches against New Zealand.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>The batting great also enjoyed a prolific 2025 season, amassing 651 runs in ODIs with three centuries and four fifties to his name.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>India are scheduled to play 20 ODIs before the start of 2027, beginning with the Afghanistan series, making Kohli&#8217;s fitness a key concern for the team management.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>The Indian camp will be hoping that Kohli recovers in time for the important ODI tour of England next month. India are scheduled to play a three-match ODI series in England from July 14 to July 19.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2><keyword id=\"20523578\" type=\"General\" weightage=\"20\" keywordseo=\"India-vs-Afghanistan-ODI-series\" source=\"Orion\">India vs Afghanistan ODI Series<\/keyword> Schedule<br \/><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"cdatainfo   id-r-component \" data-pos=\"32\">\n<ul>\n<li>1st ODI \u2013 June 13, 2026<\/li>\n<li>HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"33\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"cdatainfo   id-r-component \" data-pos=\"34\">\n<ul>\n<li>2nd ODI \u2013 June 17, 2026<\/li>\n<li>Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"35\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"cdatainfo   id-r-component \" data-pos=\"36\">\n<ul>\n<li>3rd ODI \u2013 June 20, 2026<\/li>\n<li>MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"37\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2><keyword id=\"95942\" type=\"General\" weightage=\"20\" keywordseo=\"India-vs-Afghanistan\" source=\"Orion\">India vs Afghanistan<\/keyword> squads:<br \/><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"39\"\/>India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"41\"\/>Afghanistan Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil(w), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Bilal Sami, Darwish Rasooli, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"43\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/india-vs-afghanistan\/why-virat-kohli-is-not-playing-the-first-odi-against-afghanistan-in-dharamsala\/articleshow\/131685159.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW DELHI: Team India, led by Shubman Gill, are all set to begin their preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup with a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, starting at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday.India head into the series brimming with confidence after recording their biggest-ever Test victory &#8211; an innings and 300-run&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportracker.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}