Riyan Parag ruled out of tri-nation series in Sri Lanka, BCCI names replacement

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been added to the India A squad for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka as the injury replacement for vice-captain Riyan Parag. Riyan, 24, has been ruled out of the tour with a hamstring injury he sustained while leading Rajasthan Royals (RR) during IPL 2026. Riyan will head to the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru for his rehabilitation.

Gaikwad has been named as vice-captain of the side, and he will be responsible for giving inputs to Tilak Varma, who will be leading the side.

Riyan led Rajasthan Royals through injury in their last group-stage fixture of IPL 2026 against Mumbai Indians (MI) and revealed that he wasn't supposed to play the fixture or any other game in the tournament, but carried himself on the field for the side.

He then led the RR outfit to a 47-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator before the 2008 champions crashed out of the tournament with a seven-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2.

Meanwhile, Gaikwad's IPL 2026 campaign ended much earlier after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) failed to advance to the playoffs and finished eighth on the points table with six wins and eight losses. They could only accumulate 12 points in 14 games.

Gaikwad had a season to forget from a personal standpoint. The CSK skipper managed only 337 runs in 14 games at an average of 28.08 and a strike rate of 123.44, including two half-centuries.

Updated India A squad for tri-series:

Tilak Varma (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Kumar Kushagra (WK), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan, Anukul Roy.

Schedule of the tri-nation series in Sri Lanka: