Gautam Gambhir Unhappy With BCCI Scheduling, Selectors May Pick Reserves For One-Off Test: Report
Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill find themselves in an unavoidable situation with the Test team.
- India's Afghanistan Test is scheduled six days after the IPL 2026 final on 31 May
- Coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill oppose the tight scheduling of the Test
- Emerging players like Gurnoor Brar and Devdutt Padikkal are being considered for the Test squad
India head coach Gautam Gambhir and Test captain Shubman Gill are reportedly unhappy with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) deciding to schedule the Afghanistan Test just days after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. The final of the T20 league takes place on 31 May, while the one-off Afghanistan Test is scheduled to begin on 6 June. Although it isn't yet known which teams will feature in the IPL play-offs, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee might have to field some reserves for the Afghanistan match.
According to a report in the Times of India, Gambhir and Gill had objected to such tight scheduling before, and now they find themselves tackling a situation they didn't want in the first place. The selectors, however, are preparing a Plan B, with the likes of Gurnoor Brar, Manav Suthar, Auqib Nabi, Devdutt Padikkal, and a few others on their radar for the one-off Test, having impressed in first-class cricket.
Senior players like Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and even Ravindra Jadeja could be given a break, considering their involvement in the IPL and the gruelling schedule that follows.
"There is not much gap between the IPL final and the Afghanistan Test, so the selectors and management will be wary of not burning out the players, as there are three ODIs, then the white-ball series in England.
"There are no WTC points in the Afghanistan Test, and the stakeholders need to carefully manage the workload because some of the players would be on the road for close to two months and have a lot of cricket in the remainder of the year. ODIs and WTC are the priority right now, and you want your best players to be fit, fresh, and available for the four Tests-two vs Sri Lanka and two vs New Zealand-and the many ODIs. Why even risk a Bumrah for this Test?" the paper quoted a source as saying.
"And there is little turnaround time between the Test and ODI series. So you will again be in the situation where a Test and ODI regular, say like Gill, Bumrah, KL Rahul, and even Ravindra Jadeja, would switch formats from T20 to Test to ODIs in less than a month's time. The captain and coach have been very vocal about such scheduling in the past and could have the final say," the report added.
The India vs Afghanistan Test doesn't have World Test Championship points at stake. Hence, the selectors can afford to take the match a little easier and give opportunities to some emerging stars.
"One thing is clear with this selection panel: they rarely jump the gun. It's no secret that Gurnoor and Manav have been very impressive, as have Harsh, Auqib, and Devdutt. It will all boil down to the discussions between the think-tank and the medical team because optimum utilisation of resources is going to be key here. No point putting your star players under the sun for a five-day fixture which offers no WTC points," the report quoted the source as saying.
India Cricket Team
Afghanistan
Gautam Gambhir