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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have to select a squad for the one-off series against Afghanistan. Before selecting the players for the series, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is monitoring all of the players who are under the radar.
It was previously reported that the batting unit of the Men in Blue Test team is expected to remain mostly unchanged, but some major shuffle can be done for the bowling department. A call on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj is also to be made for the Test match.
BCCI will have to take a call on Jasprit Bumrah
Key players of the Men in Blue side are now performing in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) season with their respective franchises. In IPL 2026, some of the frontline players are performing well, while some of the star players, including Jasprit Bumrah, are struggling with their performance.
As per the latest reports, the selection committee is about to make some bold decisions regarding the bowling departments, keeping the workload management issue in mind.
But that does not mean that the selectors will hand over a debut cap and throw a new player into the grind as the Test match will be a part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle. The board is expected to form a squad, even against a team like Afghanistan, which is far from Team India in the ICC Test rankings.
Selectors don’t want to distribute Test caps so easily- BCCI source
“The selectors don’t believe in compromising the Test squad just because India is playing Afghanistan. They want the best lineup to play. They don’t want to distribute Test caps so easily. Siraj’s workload threshold is very high."
"Nitish Kumar Reddy is also seen as someone who can contribute to the seam-bowling department. The BCCI monitors all data points when it comes to workload management,” a BCCI source told the Times of India.
“A call on Jasprit Bumrah will be taken after a detailed discussion. The last time India played Afghanistan in a Test match, the frontline XI was played,” the source further informed the news website.
Despite producing some unexpected results in multiple Test matches in the previous year, there is a bright chance for the team to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27. As long as there is a chance, the board and the team will keep pushing to gain the best possible outcome.
Multiple bowlers deserve to be in the India national team
In the ongoing IPL 2026 campaign, Jasprit Bumrah is among the bowlers who have failed to live up to expectations. The workload management of the star pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, remains a topic for discussion among the board officials.
On the other side, the emergence of Auqib Nabi is also a serious case ahead of the India vs Afghanistan Test match. Prince Yadav, the Lucknow Super Giants pacer, is also doing well in IPL 2026.
Anshul Kamboj is another seamer who deserves to be in contention to be selected for the one-off Test. The Chennai Super Kings quick made his Test debut for the Men in Blue last year against England.
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