CHENNAI: What was expected to be a low-profile series with expected call-ups, the India squads for upcoming lone Test and three ODIs against Afghanistan in June have brought some surprise.
The biggest of them all is the non-selection of Auqib Nabi — the J&K pacer had taken 111 wickets in the last two seasons, including helping his state make history by winning their first Ranji Trophy title earlier this year. But that was not all of it. Rishabh Pant has been stripped off his vice-captaincy and dropped from the ODI set up with Ishan Kishan replacing him. Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya are named in the ODI squad but their availability is subject to fitness. And quietly Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja have been "rested" from both formats. Jasprit Bumrah, too, is rested for the whole series.
Nabi's absence raises questions over reward for Ranji performances, especially with two A-tours coming up before the Sri Lanka and New Zealand away Test series. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar said Nabi came close but did not make the cut as they have stuck to the three pacers, especially it being a lone Test at home. "You do not necessarily pick a lot of seamers when you pick a Test team in India. He was close. But at this point, we have gone with the three that we have picked. There is no doubt he has had some incredible performances for Jammu and Kashmir," Agarkar said.
Though his absence in white-ball is not surprising, Jadeja not being part of Test team raises questions. Similarly, Axar, who last played the Kolkata Test against South Africa and is still India T20I vice-captain, too do not find a place. Agarkar, when asked the way forward for them, said that the selectors wanted to try out a few options in the coming few months as they are aware of what Jadeja and Axar can offer. " I think we just want to try and give the opportunity. He is aware of it. With regards to one-day cricket, again, with 15-16 months left to that World Cup, we want to obviously try and assess what our options are. Particularly, keeping in mind the conditions in South Africa and give a little bit of exposure to some of the newer guys," said the chief selector. Some of those guys who benefit from the decision are Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey who have earned their Test call-ups.
BCCI won't interfere too much: Saikia on injured players in IPL
One of the biggest talking points in the last few weeks of the Indian Premier League is how India players are getting injured, and whether some of them are continuing to play, sometimes as Impact Players. Rohit and Pandya have been injured and missed games. There were contradicting reports of managing fitness of Arshdeep Singh, and murmurs around a few other players as well. While Arshdeep seems to be declared fit to take part in the ODIs, Rohit and Pandya's availability are subject to fitness for the Afghanistan series.
Asked if the selectors are aware of players taking the field with "niggles", Agarkar said he goes by what the physio tells the selectors. "Sometimes a player knows whether he can play through it or not. I won't be able to tell you sitting here whether they are playing through niggles or not. You certainly want them fit when they come and play or represent the national team. But that's an area of expertise for the trainers and the physios who kind of give me the feedback of where a player is at. If they tell me a certain guy is fit, I've got to trust that person when we pick them. And maybe in two weeks' time, if we are told that those two guys haven't quite made it fitness-wise, we take a call accordingly," said the chief selector.
When pressed if the BCCI have control over contracted players during IPL, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said the board would not interfere too much with the franchises. "So far as the IPL is concerned, the franchisees do take care about the injuries and the fitness of the players. Our physios from the CoE are also monitoring them, giving them the workload as well as the plan for how to keep them fit. So, monitoring is there but we cannot interfere too much when the IPL is going on. Had it been the Indian team's situation, our control would have been more. Now, we are giving that freedom to the franchisees who take call on their players and we definitely look into their fitness level when it comes to selecting the national team," he said.
