India's plans for T20 World Cup 2026 have suffered a minor blip with the latest injury to Tilak Varma. The middle-order batter suffered testicular torsion during the Vijay Hazare Trophy and had to undergo surgery on Wednesday (January 7). As per the latest reports, Varma is likely to miss out on the entire India-New Zealand T20I series.
The Hyderabad batter has already been ruled out officially for the first three games of the series. He was discharged after surgery on Thursday (January 8) and is scheduled to fly back to his home in Hyderabad on Friday (January 8). The surgery was successful and initial reports state that Varma's medical condition is stable.
While each medical case is different, it generally required four to six weeks for an individual to recover fully after undergoing surgery for testicular torsion. Mild discomfort is inevitable after the surgery and Varma has been advised not to do any type of training activities until all the post-surgery symptoms have fully ended.
Varma is expected to take complete bed red for at least a week, after which the left-hand batter can resume activities which aren't extremely stressful in nature. It would take about two to four weeks for him to return to routine physical action, regardless of whether it is strength training or skill-based training.
The T20I series starts on January 21 with games on January 23 and 25 - these are the games that Varma has ruled out of. The final two games of the series, slated for January 28 and January 31, are also in doubt. Remember, the T20 World Cup starts in exactly week after the final T20I, so rushing Varma back to action could backfire. At the same time, the management would ideally want him to get some game time too.
