BCCI set to take major call on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in crucial meeting: Reports

With the IPL 2026 season approaching its concluding stage, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has started to look at life ahead of that. Subsequently, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has scheduled a meeting with the BCCI to discuss the future fixtures of Team India, as per a report by The Times of India. The report further stated that the motive of the meeting is to finalise the pool of pacers, and those who are in the scheme of things have been told to put their best foot forward in the remainder of the IPL.

The likes of Anshul Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar, who have emerged huge as revelations in the IPL 2026, are in the scheme of things for breaking into the Indian side. In addition to them, Auqib Nabi, who had an exceptional Ranji Trophy campaign, could also make the cut.

The Board is taking the one-off Test against Afghanistan quite seriously. Hence, they want Jasprit Bumrah to be a part of the side for the Test. Mohammed Shami's future could also be decided during the meeting. The pacer has remained out of action since the Champions Trophy 2025.

"The selectors don't believe in compromising the Test squad just because India are playing Afghanistan. They want the best lineup to play. They don't want to distribute Test caps so easily. Siraj's workload threshold is very high. Prasidh hasn't played an IPL match since 24 April. Nitish Kumar Reddy is also seen as someone who can contribute to the seam-bowling department. The BCCI monitors all data points when it comes to workload management," a BCCI source was quoted as saying by TOI.

"A call on Bumrah will be taken after a detailed discussion. The last time India played Afghanistan in a Test match, the frontline XI was played," the report added.

India are scheduled to play nine Tests in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle over the next nine months. However, the Afghanistan match is not part of that cycle.