India’s build-up to their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign has been hit by a series of fitness concerns with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah now reportedly set to miss their opening match against USA due to viral fever.

According to media, Bumrah turned up for India’s training session without taking part in it at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.

Bumrah’s absence leaves India with just 13 fully fit players before the start of their title defence. All-rounder Washington Sundar hasn’t linked up with the World Cup squad yet as he’s still at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru awaiting fitness clearance.

On Friday night, the BCCI officially confirmed that Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the tournament at the eleventh hour. Rana picked up a knee injury during India’s World Cup warm-up fixture with South Africa earlier this week.

“Team India pacer Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after sustaining a knee injury during the warm-up match against South Africa in Navi Mumbai on February 4th 2026. Following consultations with a specialist and subsequent scans, the BCCI medical team deemed him unfit to participate in the tournament. The team management wishes him a speedy recovery," BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement.

Mohammed Siraj has been named as his replacement and in Bumrah’s absence, is likely to be included in India’s playing XI tonight.

Rana was seen holding his knee during the warm-up fixture held at the DY Patil Stadium. He bowled just one over and conceded 16 runs before hobbling off the field.

India are aiming to become the first team to win three T20 World Cup titles.

India’s updated squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Siraj

Source: News18