Uncapped right-arm pacer Auqib Nabi on Monday replaced the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the India squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
"Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka as he has not yet fully recovered from the left knee injury sustained during the ODI series against England," the BCCI said via a statement on Monday.
"The Men's Selection Committee has named Auqib Nabi as Bumrah's replacement. The Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler earns his maiden call-up to the senior national team," the statement added.
Jasprit Bumrah's injury concerns
Jasprit Bumrah had sustained a left knee injury during the ODI series against England in July. Bumrah is undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Bumrah's workload has been a cause for concern in recent years, ever since he sustained a back injury during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.
In June 2025, the Gujarat pacer played in just three out of the five Tests, taking 14 wickets. At tyhe 2026 T20 World Cup, Bumrah impressed again as he took 14 wickets from eight matches. However, he had an underwhelming IPL 2026 campaign with Mumbai Indians (MI), picking up just four wickets from 13 matches.
Auqib Nabi, on the other hand, has recently produced stellar performances in the domestic cricket circuit. He was Jammu and Kashmir's standout bowler in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, taking 60 wickets as he helped his team clinch their maiden title.
Across the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, the 29-year--old has taken 104 wickets. Apart from Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar form the rest of the pace bowling attack.
The right-arm medium pacer was a net bowler for India in their one-off Test match against Afghanistan in Mullanpur in June this year.
The first Test against Sri Lanka will be played in Galle from 15 August, and that will be followed by the second Test in Colombo from 23 August. Both the Tests will be part of the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Nabi was also on top of his game in the unofficial Test series for India A against Sri Lanka A in Sri Lanka, taking six wickets from two matches. This included best figures of 4/58 in the first innings of the first unofficial Tests in Galle.
India's updated squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka: Shubman Gill (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sai Sudharsan*, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi.
