The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has announced Jammu & Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi as replacement for an injured Jasprit Bumrah for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
Bumrah has been ruled out of the Sri Lanka tour following an impact knee injury during the second ODI of the series against England. As per BCCI's media release, he 'has not yet fully recovered from the left knee injury'.
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Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan’s participation in the series continues to be subject to fitness. India are scheduled to play a three-day practice game in Colombo, starting August 7. Nabi is expected to feature in the practice game before a chance to make his Test debut. The Test series will commence on August 15 in Galle. The second Test is scheduled to begin on August 23.
India’s squad for Test series against Sri Lanka
Shubman Gill (c), KL Rahul (vc), 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.
How Auqib performed on India A debut?
Nabi had made his India A debut against Sri Lanka in June this year. He claimed a four-fer in his debut innings against Sri Lanka. He bagged five wickets in the series opener which ended in a draw. In the second game, he remained wicketless in the first innings and struck once with the new ball in the second innings. In the second innings, he also contributed with a handy 30-run knock from 65 balls, sharing an 81-run partnership with Saransh Jain, another player who got his maiden call-up for Sri Lanka series.
Auqib's first-class record
Overall, Auqib has played 43 first-class games, taking 162 wickets at an average of 18.63, featuring 16 fifers. He has taken 10 or more wickets in a game four times in his red-ball career so far. He is handy down the order with the bat, scoring 999 runs at an average of 18.84. He has two fifties to his name as well.
He helped Jammu & Kashmir win their maiden Ranji Trophy title in the previous edition. From 10 games, he accounted for 60 wickets, averaging just 12.56. He had seven fifers to his name in the season.