The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced a 15-member squad for their historic ‘away’ three-match T20I series against Afghanistan with all matches taking place at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Most of India’s big names are back, but Hardik Pandya is missing from the squad as he continues to work his way back to full fitness.
One of the most interesting aspects of the squad announcement was the asterisk placed next to four names: Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar. All four have been selected subject to fitness clearance.
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Why BCCI pick Bumrah, Harshit, Sundar, Reddy?
Usually, such a situation is more common when a player is returning from an injury. But seeing four players listed with fitness conditions for a bilateral series has certainly raised some eyebrows.
There is, however, a bigger reason behind this decision.
All four players are also part of India’s squad for the 2026 Asian Games. As previously reported by The Daily Jagran, India are expected to use the same group of players for the Asian Games as well. The Afghanistan series will be India’s final assignment before the Asian Games, meaning the team is likely to use the T20Is in New Delhi as part of its preparation for the major event.
The four players in question have all had their own fitness concerns in recent months.
Harshit Rana spent around five months on the sidelines because of a knee injury before returning to international cricket during India’s tours of Ireland and England earlier this year. He played all five T20Is on that tour but later missed the ODI series in England after another fitness issue. Prince Yadav was brought into the squad as his replacement.
Bumrah has also had a stop-start period. He played two of the three ODIs against England and was expected to lead India’s pace attack during the Test series in Sri Lanka. However, he was eventually withdrawn before the tour and Auqib Nabi replaced him in the squad.
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Sai Sudharsan faced a similar situation. The batter was initially picked for the Sri Lanka tour but could not recover in time and was replaced by Sarfaraz Khan.
There have been other cases too. Suryansh Shedge was called up to make his India debut after replacing Nitish Reddy, while Ravi Bishnoi came into the squad after Varun Chakaravarthy was ruled out of the Zimbabwe T20Is.
The repeated cases of injuries and last-minute changes have also brought attention back to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE), where players go through their rehabilitation and recovery programmes.
The BCCI and team management now appear to be taking a much more cautious approach before declaring a player fit for international duty.
A source recently told Cricbuzz that the team wants to be “200 per cent confident” about a player’s availability before releasing him for India duty.
“The CoE will not take chances,” the source added.
Why Does BCCI Pick Players Who Are Not Fully Fit?
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had explained the reason behind the ‘subject to fitness’ tag last month.
According to Saikia, the selection meetings are held around three to four weeks before a team actually leaves for a tour. Because of that gap, the selectors may not have a clear picture of a player’s fitness at the time of selection.
He explained that a player undergoing rehabilitation may not be fit on the day the squad is picked, but could recover in the following three or four weeks.
That is why the BCCI does not immediately rule such players out.
The idea is to give them enough time to complete their recovery while keeping them in contention. If they become fully fit before the team travels or before the matches begin, they can still be part of the squad.
With the Afghanistan T20Is coming just before the Asian Games, India will be particularly keen to have Bumrah, Rana, Reddy and Sundar fit and available. The fitness calls surrounding the four players could therefore be an important part of India’s preparations for the marquee event.