India's Ireland and England defeats, injury woes: BCCI top brass to meet Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) top brass will reportedly hold a meeting with head coach Gautam Gambhir, Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar and Centre of Excellence (CoE) head VVS Laxman in Mumbai on Thursday.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, one of the talking points during the meeting is set to be India's recent defeats to Ireland and England in their away limited-overs series.

India began their T20I era under new skipper Shreyas Iyer on a forgettable note, suffering a 0-2 loss to Ireland followed by a 0-4 loss to England. The Men in Blue also suffered a 1-2 ODI series loss to England.

"Yes, there is a meeting on Thursday, and the discussion would revolve around recent losses and also the injury concerns," a source aware of the developments told the Hindustan Times. The meeting was initially scheduled to take place right after India's ODI series against England.

However, that was postponed, and now, it will take place on Thursday. The BCCI on Tuesday announced the India squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy have all been included, but their participation is subject to fitness clearance, with each of them having sustained injuries recently.

Injury crisis adds to BCCI's concerns

The BCCI has also faced criticism from former cricketers Mohammad Kaif, who slammed the board for their failure to appoint a sports science head at the CoE in Bengaluru, amid a deepening injury crisis.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and CoE chief VVS Laxman recently held a 90-minute press conference to shed light on the centre’s work and emphasise that the CoE is far more than just a rehabilitation facility. Players' workload amid the Indian Premier League (IPL) is also another cause for concern.

Hardik Pandya has not played competitive cricket since sustaining an injury during IPL 2026. He remains a crucial player for India as they build up towards the 2027 ODI World Cup in the latter part of next year.

India must win at least six out of their last seven matches to have any chance of qualifying for the 2027 World Test Championship (WTC) final. The Shubman Gill-led side remain in fifth place with 68 points and a points percentage (PCT) of 51.52 following their 1-0 series win over Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series.

India’s next Test assignment is a two-match away series against New Zealand in November.