Former Indian opening batter and expert Abhinav Mukund has reckoned that it’s a tricky couple of months for the Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, with ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s selection ahead of the New Zealand tour.
Notably, Bumrah is currently recovering from a left knee injury and undergoing fitness assessments at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. While he has been selected for the upcoming three-game T20I series vs Afghanistan, his selection in the XI is subject to fitness clearance.
With India A set to play against New Zealand A in three red-ball fixtures in October and November ahead of the two-Test tour, Mukund reckoned that Bumrah might be asked to play a couple of these games.
“Bumrah might be asked to play a couple of these four-day games or even the A game against New Zealand. However, we have to wait and see if he makes the ODI squad or if he goes straight to prepare for the New Zealand Tests. So it’s a tricky couple of months for the selectors.”
Furthermore, Mukund also shared his views on the tight cricketing schedule for the Indian players. Notably, India has been playing continuously across formats without an extended break of late.
“India have announced that they’ll play a lot more shadow tours before Test matches, which is a great idea to get acclimatised and get adequate rest. Another thing that came out of the BCCI meeting seems to be that both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have insisted that there should be an adequate gap between series. Maybe that’ll happen after the next IPL because for now, India’s calendar looks very tight, with a lot of games coming up,” he added.
During the review meeting at the BCCI headquarters, the board openly acknowledged that a packed, overlapping cricket calendar is a significant challenge.
