Sarfaraz Khan named Sai Sudharsan's replacement vs Sri Lanka

A week before the start of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, India have named the middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan as the replacement for the injured Sai Sudharsan, who has been ruled out of the series with a right-toe reaction and has been at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.

The BCCI made the replacement just hours after winning the only warm-up clash against the Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo, where the blue brigade was without Sudharsan. They showed a terrific batting performance in the last session and won the contest by six wickets.

BCCI confirms Sarfaraz Khan as Sudharsan's replacement for the Sri Lanka Tests

India have been hit by several injuries ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, with many key players including Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar being ruled out. Shubman Gill didn’t bat in their first innings during the warm-up clash and returned to bat in the second innings when he smashed 44 runs off 54 balls.

The BCCI revealed that Sai Sudharsan has made significant progress in his recovery from the injury and has been recovering really well. Sarfaraz will join the Indian squad before the opening Test on August 15, 2026.

“Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the Test series against Sri Lanka. The left-handed batter, who has been at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru, has made significant progress in his recovery from the right toe stress reaction and is recovering well.” The BCCI expressed this in their statement.

“The BCCI Medical Team is closely monitoring his progress. Sarfaraz will link up with the Indian squad in Colombo before the team travels to Galle for the first Test match, starting August 15, 2026.” They revealed.

How Sarfaraz Khan fought his way back into the Indian Test squad

Sarfaraz last played a Test match in 2024, which was the third and final Test of the series against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He has played six red-ball games so far, scoring 371 runs, including one century and three half-centuries, with a best score of 150 runs in Bengaluru.

Although he was part of the Indian squad for the 2024-25 trip to Australia, Sarfaraz didn’t get a game and was left out of the squad for the England tour last year. He was the third-highest run-getter for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy 2025, with 429 runs in seven games at 53.62.

The Test series against Sri Lanka will be part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025/27, where the blue brigade sits at the fifth spot after four wins and as many defeats in nine clashes.

India’s updated Test squad vs Sri Lanka-

Shubman Gill (captain), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi, Sarfaraz Khan