India’s Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah (PTI Photo/R Senthil Kumar) NEW DELHI: A busy schedule for the Indian team has put the national selectors in order as they prepare to select fast bowlers for the one-off Test against Afghanistan to be played in Chandigarh from June 6.TOI understands that the selectors are scheduled to meet the BCCI to discuss the plan for the next few months. The selection meeting could take place this weekend or next week.
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Krunal Pandya opens the match winning game and RCB’s playoff runIt is learned that the selectors and team management have expressed their desire to field the strongest XI in every Test. India have to play nine Tests in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle over the next nine months. However, the Test against Afghanistan is excluded from this cycle.The main dilemma at the moment is whether to push the pacers in the front line for the Test, with the IPL scheduled to end on May 31. According to sources, the selectors are waiting to see which teams make the play-offs before taking the call for a pace-bowling attack.On Tuesday, Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians were the only two teams to be eliminated from the IPL playoffs. Jasprit Bumrah is the only fast bowler from the two teams who is regularly tested. However, Bumrah’s workload has been a touchy subject for years. The other Test regulars, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, are with Gujarat Titans, who are fighting for a place in the play-offs in the last week of May.Akash Deep is still recovering from a lower back injury and is unlikely to be fit anytime soon. Harshit Rana is unlikely to be fit before the third week of June. The voters have given enough indication that they have moved on from Moham-med Shami. So it will be a big surprise if they decide to go back to him for a one-off test.TOI understands that the group of fast bowlers on the BCCI’s target list have been asked to increase their workload for the remainder of the IPL. Anshul Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar have been part of India’s ‘A’ scheme of things in the last year. The only other pacer who can push for a spot is Jammu and Kashmir’s Auqib Nabi, who has had a stellar couple of seasons in first-class cricket. However, it is not part of India’s ‘A’ programme.
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It will be interesting to see if the selectors ignore the path they have created for the Test contenders. Prince Yadav has impressed the selectors, but even he is yet to make the cut.“The selectors don’t believe in compromising the Test team just because India is playing Afghanistan. They want to play the best line-up. They don’t want to distribute Test caps so easily. Siraj’s workload threshold is very high. Prasidh hasn’t played an IPL match since April 24. Nitish Kumar Reddy is also seen as someone who can contribute to all BC playbook data when he can contribute to seaming points. He comes to manage the workload,” said a BCCI source. and added, “The call for Bumrah will be taken after a detailed discussion when India last faced Afghanistan in a front-line Test match.However, all front-line batsmen are expected to be selected for the one-off Test.
