India will be without their most valuable allrounder for the three-match series against Afghanistan in Delhi this month, with Hardik Pandya still not back to full fitness. And once again, his return to the Indian team has been stalled.

Pandya’s absence is particularly significant because of the balance he provides. He is not merely another player in the squad; he is the sort of cricketer who gives a captain an extra bowling option while also adding considerable depth to the batting. His fitness, therefore, has a direct bearing on India’s team combination.

But Pandya is not the only fitness concern.

Four other players in the squad — Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana — will also require fitness clearance from the BCCI medical team before their participation is confirmed. All four have picked up injuries over the past two months, adding yet another layer of uncertainty to India’s selection plans.

The biggest question, however, remains Pandya.He has not played since the T20 World Cup final on March 8, while his last appearance in any format came during the IPL on May 24. For a player whose workload and fitness have been under constant scrutiny, another delay in his comeback is hardly ideal.

And that makes this Afghanistan series an interesting one for India. It is an opportunity to give players time in the middle, assess combinations and perhaps look at some alternatives, but it is also another reminder of how much India’s plans can change depending on who is actually fit and available.

There is, incidentally, another rather unusual aspect to this series. India are playing at home, in Delhi, but they are not officially the hosts. Afghanistan are the hosts, while India will be the visiting team — despite the matches being played in the Indian capital. It is a rare arrangement and, as far as India are concerned, a rather unusual one.

The three-match series will be played at New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium between September 13 and 17. For the first time, India will officially be the “visiting team” on home soil, with Afghanistan designated as the hosts.

For India, though, the bigger concern will be much more conventional: who is fit, who is not, and what sort of team can they put on the field.

India’s squad: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*

* Subject to fitness clearance