Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been ruled out of India’s next two to three World Cup matches after developing a niggle in his left hamstring during Sunday’s encounter against Pakistan.

“Slight niggle for Bhuvi, he slipped on one of the footmarks. He’s out for two, maybe three games, but he should come back for us at some stage during this tournament. He is very important for us,” said India captain Virat Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony after his team thumped Pakistan by 89 runs.

Kohli confirmed that he will be replaced by Mohammed Shami in the following games and said, “Shami is raring to go”.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar had walked off the field when he failed to complete his third over after slipping on the landing crease.

India’s next three games are against Afghanistan (June 22), West Indies (June 27) and England (June 30).

It is a second big jolt for India as opener Shikhar Dhawan has already been ruled out of a few games due to a thumb injury, sustained during the match against Australia.

The India captain was also in full praise for his team’s top-order batsmen, especially Rohit Sharma.

“The template has been really nice in the first three games till now – Rohit single-handedly winning us the first game, a team effort in the second and today was Rohit’s day again. You could say that to get to 330, you need a team effort, KL set a great foundation with Rohit and Rohit after getting to 70-75 is unstoppable and he showed again why he’s such a good ODI player,” Kohli said.

“It allowed me to play a certain kind of role and it allowed Hardik to come and explode in the end. It has worked till now, gives us a lot of solidity in the middle and it is a role that I am happy playing for the team. It is going really nicely at the moment,” he added.

Kohli also expressed happiness that Kuldeep Yadav was back in form.

“Kuldeep Yadav was brilliant. Babar and Fakhar were trying to play him out, but I wanted him to have a longer spell. The ball to dismiss Babar was an outstanding delivery. I think today was the best he bowled at this World Cup,” he remarked.

When asked that India-Pakistan games have not lived up to hype of late, Kohli said they do not fall to the trap of playing to hype.