Washington Sundar declared fit, Jasprit Bumrah eyeing nod for Afghanistan series

MUMBAI: All-rounder Washington Sundar , who missed the two-Test series in Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury, has been cleared to play in India’s upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in New Delhi, TOI has learnt.However, the team management and selectors are still awaiting fitness updates on pacer Jasprit Bumrah and seam-bowling all-rounders Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who have been picked for the series after clearing their fitness tests.“Sundar was cleared by the BCCI medical team after his fitness test, which included a match simulation exercise, at the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru on September 4. Bumrah, Rana and Reddy underwent their first match simulation on Monday and will undergo the second on Wednesday at the CoE. After that, they will report back to the CoE to monitor the trio’s progress,” a source told TOI. This means that the last update of the Indian team could come just four days before the first match of the series. However, Sundar’s availability is a boost for India, who are now waiting for the other three players to be cleared.Bumrah was ruled out of the Test series in Sri Lanka due to an on-field knee injury sustained during India’s white-ball tour of England. Rana suffered a hamstring injury during the tour of England in July, while Reddy missed the tour of Britain and Sri Lanka due to a quadriceps injury.India have named a full Shreyas Iyer-led squad for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, with star all-rounder Hardik Pandya missing as he continues to recover from injury. It is almost the same team that will go to Japan for the Asian Games.