After facing snub from Test squad for one-off Test against Afghanistan, Jammu & Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi and five others have joined the Team India camp as net bowlers in Mullanpur. Sports Tak has learnt that apart from Nabi, pacers Gurjapneet Singh, Prince Yadav, spinners Saransh Jain, Zeeshan Ansari and Shivang Kumar have joined the squad to assist the batters in the build up to the one-off Test.
Earlier, there were reports of Nabi joined the squad as a back-up pacer. His absence from the Test squad has been questioned by many considering his 60-wicket Ranji season, helping Jammu & Kashmir to claim the title for the first time.
Prince, who has has received his ODI call-up, has linked up with the squad ahead of the ODI series against Afghanistan. Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) pacer Prince was added to the ODI squad in the absence of an injured Harshit Rana and rested Jasprit Bumrah. He took 16 wickets from 14 games for LSG in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
Left-arm pacer Gurjapneet, who played for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2026 and claimed four wickets from eight games, will help Team India batters prepare for the red-ball challenge as well.
Two of the three spinners called up as net bowlers include two from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squad. Leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari made his IPL debut last season but did not get a game this time around. Ansari was joint second-highest wicket-taker in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26. Shivang is a left-arm wrist spinner who claimed nine wickets in his debut IPL season.
The only net bowler who wasn’t part of any of the IPL 2026 squads is Saransh. Madhya Pradesh's 33-year-old off-spinner took 30 wickets from seven games in previous Ranji season.
Why one-off Test vs Afghanistan is crucial?
The one-off Test will commence on June 6. It is not part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle and there are no points to offer. But, it will help Indian batters to prepare well for the Sri Lanka Test series in August later this year where crucial WTC points will be at stake.