Bumrah, Rana and Sundar were part of white-ball series against England before pulling out mid-way while Reddy has been out of action since June from the ODI series against Afghanistan. According to a report in Dainik Jagran website, the final call on the four cricketers availability will be taken by September 9 with the T20I series beginning at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on September 13.
BCCI’s CoE under former India cricketer VVS Laxman are adopting a cautious approach when it comes of availability of the star cricketers. They don’t want to avoid the scenario when these cricketers are only available for a match or a series before getting injured again, according to a report in Cricbuzz website.
“Harshit Rana’s case is a prime example. He made a long-awaited comeback in June for the Ireland and England tours after a five-month hiatus, only to be ruled out in less than two weeks. He could not complete the England tour and had to be sent back, with Prince Yadav coming in as his replacement,” the Cricbuzz report stated
Apart from Rana, Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan had to be replaced by Auqib Nabi and Sarfaraz Khan respectively, after being selected for the Sri Lanka Tests initially. Suryansh Shedge came in at the last minute for Nitish Kumar Reddy for the Ireland and England tour, while Varun Chakaravarthy was replaced by Ravi Bishnoi for the Zimbabwe tour at the last minute as well.
CoE head VVS Laxman has called for transparency when it comes to fitness issues of the cricketers. “They (players) understand that they’re not yet ready to participate in the national series. It’s always player-centric and team-centric. So that communication is happening seamlessly. I think what the BCCI has done is there’s transparency in all the fitness reports and also in the selection.
“At the end of the selection, whether it’s a release to the press, it’s clearly mentioned that these players are picked subject to fitness. Means if they don’t clear the fitness test, the selectors will know who are the other players who will go in their place if they don’t clear the fitness test. I mean, it’s basic common sense,” Laxman said in a recent media interaction recently.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia explained why conditional selection has been made when it comes to Afghanistan T20I series. “So if he gets picked within that period of 21 or 28 days, he will be taken into the team. So that is precisely why we do not outrightly reject him because on the date of selection, we are rejecting him because on that day he is not fit. But, by the time it will be effectively required for the travel or to play the match, by that time he may be totally fit,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told Cricbuzz website.
The BCCI selectors are confident that Bumrah and Reddy should be available to play in three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in New Delhi but Rana and Washington Sundar’s positions are not that clear. “The CoE will not take chances,” a BCCI source told the website.
India squad for Afghanistan T20I series
Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*