Ajit Agarkar Faces Strong Accusation Of 'IPL Bias', Ex-MI Star Vents Frustration
The BCCI selection commitee, which is chaired by Ajit Agarkar, has been accused of turning the IPL into a shortcut to Team India.
- Ajit Agarkar, the BCCI chairman of selectors, has been accused of IPL bias by ex-MI and KKR player Siddesh Lad
- "You're sending a wrong message, that even if you do well in Ranji , it makes no difference," Lad said
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The India squad for the Afghanistan series raised some eyebrows among experts, with one of the major talking points being the BCCI selection committee's decision to not pick pacer Auqib Nabi despite a phenomenal domestic season. Nabi picked up 60 wickets in just 10 matches in the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy season, spearheading Jammu and Kashmir to the title. However, he did not find a place in the India squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan after a subpar IPL 2026 season for Delhi Capitals (DC).
Siddhesh Lad, who is a former Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player and a domestic cricket veteran, stated that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee are sending the wrong message to players.
"You are sending a wrong message to the domestic cricketers, that even if you do well in Ranji Trophy, it doesn't make any difference to your cricketing career, but if you do well in a few games in the IPL, you can make it to India's Test team," Lad said, in an interview with Times of India.
"At the start, everyone is like, 'If you perform in the Ranji Trophy, then you will play for India, if you don't perform then you won't. But in the end, when we really see the selection, that's when a lot of things go wrong," he added.
Lad highlighted Nabi's non-selection in order to justify his perspective, and added that performing in the IPL is turning into a shortcut to make the Indian team.
"I think you are 100% right when you say that performing well in the IPL is the benchmark for breaking into the Indian team.
"The harsh reality is that domestic cricket performances are ignored by the national selectors. The Ranji Trophy has been devalued. I won't deny that. I'm not saying that I've performed well, so pick me into the Indian team, but I think someone like Auqib Nabi, If he has worked so hard and won the Ranji Trophy single-handedly for J&K, which is not so easy, performed exceptionally well in the Ranji Trophy, then he deserved to be picked in India's Test side," Lad explained.
"Nowadays, if you don't do well in the IPL, or don't have a good season in the IPL, your chances of coming into the Indian Test team are slim," he further stated.
India take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test and three ODIs, starting from June 6.
India Cricket Team
Afghanistan