IND vs AFG: Shubman Gill & Co fret over Mohammed Siraj's availability against Afghanistan in one-off Test in Mullanpur
In case Mohammed Siraj misses out in the one-off Test match against Afghanistan, starting on June 6 in Mullanpur, Punjab pacer Gurnoor Brar looks to be the frontrunner to make debut.
Mohammed Siraj's fitness has been a headache for the Indian team management just three days ahead of their one-off Test against Afghanistan in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh. Siraj, who played all the games for Gujarat Titans until the final on May 31 in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) is being continuously monitored by the BCCI medical staff, but a final call will be taken after a workload assessment in the next two days.
According to a TimesofIndia.com report, there were discussions about resting Siraj from the one-off Test against Afghanistan, but the likes of captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir are believed to be not in mood to field an inexperienced bowling attack.
To add more to that, Siraj suffered a hamstring pull in Gujarat Titans' IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals. He was treated in the middle of the game but then returned to complete his full quota of four overs.
Who will replace Mohammed Siraj if unavailable?
In case the 32-year-old Siraj misses out at the last moment, Punjab pacer Gurnoor Brar is likely to make his India debut. Aquib Nabi, who had missed out on a maiden Test selection call initially, is most likely to be added in the squad for the Test match.
"Siraj has had a long season and if he is rested, there is a bright possibility Gurnoor will play and Nabi will come into the squad," the above-mentioned website quoted a source as saying. Not to forget, Nabi combined 100 wickets in the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, including 60 in 2025-26, and played a crucial role in Jammu and Kashmir's maiden triumph recently.
Currently, Nabi is among the seven net bowlers who have been called up to in the Indian camp to help the batters. The others are Gurjapneet Singh, Prince Yadav, Saransh Jain, Zeeshan Ansari and Shivang Kumar. Notably, Prince is a part of the ODI team against Afghanistan.
India vs Afghanistan Test squads
India: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper)
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmanullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafudin Ashraf, Nangyal Kharotai, Qais Ahmad, Bilal Sami, Zia Sharifi, Saleem Safi