Jasprit Bumrah to play only one format against Afghanistan
Jasprit Bumrah will either play the one-off Test or the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan next month as the national selection committee is keeping an eye on the pace spearhead’s workload while naming the squads for the series on May 19.
The one-off Test, which isn’t a part of the World Test Championship cycle, will be played at New Chandigarh from June 6-10, while the three ODIs will be held on June 14 (Dharamsala), 17 (Lucknow) and 20 (Chennai) respectively.
The bilateral ODIs have gained traction because that is the only format in which Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma play internationally. However, Delhi speedster Prince Yadav’s name will certainly be discussed by the selection committee, considering his stellar show in the last edition of the national one-day championship. Prince took 17 wickets from 8 Vijay Hazare Trophy games.
Besides that, his effort in the ongoing IPL 2026, 16 wickets from 12 games, including the dismissal of Virat Kohli with a lovely seaming delivery, has underlined the fact that there couldn’t be a better series to try out Prince, since Harshit Rana is unlikely to get fit anytime soon.
No experiment with Test squad: It can be said with a degree of certainty that the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar is not going to experiment with the red ball format squad.
The tried and tested faces in the past one year are expected to fill the squad with an eye on the away series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, where contrasting conditions could be on offer.
While Bumrah has had a hectic IPL, it is unlikely that he will skip the entire two-week series starting June 6. For someone who takes pride in wearing the India Whites, whether Bumrah will be required for a lone Test against Afghanistan is the moot point.
As per sources, if he plays the Test match, he wouldn’t take part in the three-match ODI series. In case he plays the ODI series, then he would be rested for the Test match. While there has been a lot of talk about changes in the squad, in all likelihood, Devdutt Padikkal, who was also a part of the team that was thrashed by South Africa last year, might replace Sai Sudharsan at No. 3 in the batting line-up. The other options for that slot will be Washington Sundar, who has batted at No. 3 for Tamil Nadu and Dhruv Jurel as a specialist batter.
In case Bumrah doesn’t play, the new ball attack is likely to be headlined by Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. With both Akash Deep and Harshit injured, Jammu and Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi, who took 60 wickets in the last Ranji Trophy season, might be the reserve pacer. But his fight is against pace bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
If Bumrah plays, then Nabi might have to wait for his turn, as not more than three frontline fast bowlers would be picked for a Test match in India, where spinners call the shots.
In case of spinners, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington are automatic choices. From the squad that was picked against South Africa, Axar Patel’s place could be under the scanner in the longest format.
While Harsh Dubey has been picked for the Sri Lanka A tri-nation series, he won’t be considered, but Manav Suthar could give Axar a tough competition, although experience could prevail in the end.
The two wicketkeepers -- Rishabh Pant and Jurel -- are automatic choices in the Test format.
