Auqib Nabi has been in this position twice before in the last three months, the best domestic bowler in the country, standing right outside a Test squad door that wouldn’t open. Both times, the selectors found a reason to look elsewhere. This time, the door may have swung open on its own.
Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss India’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, starting August 15 in Galle, after failing to shake off the left knee discomfort that first flared up during the ODI series in England. He hasn’t bowled a single ball at the BCCI‘s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru this week, and the medical team has made it clear — full recovery takes priority over a rushed return. With Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep already unavailable, India’s pace cupboard just got a lot barer heading into a series they can’t afford to fumble in the World Test Championship cycle.
Auqib, by all indications, has emerged as the front-runner to replace Bumrah, a call that would end a frustrating stretch of being the bridesmaid.
Why Nabi deserves this
The case starts with a season that had no business being this dominant. Auqib was the leading wicket-taker of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy with 60 wickets in 10 matches — the seventh-highest tally by any bowler in a single Ranji season, and third among fast bowlers. In fact, across the last two Ranji seasons, he picked up 13 five-wicket hauls, taking his two-year tally to 104 wickets. It was the engine room of Jammu & Kashmir’s maiden Ranji Trophy title.
What stands out about Nabi’s game is old-fashioned seam craft: a right-arm quick who isn’t express pace but swings the new ball both ways, a skill that’s become rarer as domestic pace attacks lean harder on raw speed.
That Ranji season should have made his India call-up a formality. Instead, when the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan was picked in May, the selectors went with Gurnoor Brar as the reserve pacer and left Nabi out — a decision that drew immediate criticism.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar didn’t dodge the question when it came up. “At this point, we have gone with the three that we have picked. But there was certainly a chat around that. There is no doubt, he has had some incredible performances for Jammu & Kashmir,” he said. Days later, after the backlash continued, the BCCI asked Nabi to join the Indian team training in Mohali for the Test, merely as a net player.
He got a fuller audition last month, playing in India A’s two-match red-ball series in Sri Lanka — the same conditions the senior side will face in a few weeks. He picked up six wickets. It moved the needle, but not enough: when this Test squad was picked, Brar was preferred again, this time on the back of impressing across formats — seven wickets against Afghanistan and four in three matches in England in the ODI format, while also picking 10 wickets in the only India A game he played in Sri Lanka.
There’s also a batting dimension working in Nabi’s favour — a genuine all-rounder’s balance rather than a pure specialist’s game — and in the Ranji final, he also gave KL Rahul plenty of trouble, the kind of moment that tends to stick with selectors.
The bigger picture
Even if Nabi gets his cap in Sri Lanka, this is about more than two Tests. India have a Test tour of New Zealand in November and a home series against Australia still to come in this WTC cycle, and with Bumrah’s fitness now a recurring theme rather than a one-off scare, the team will want more than a stopgap. They’ll want to know if Nabi is a genuine long-term option in the pace reserves — not just the man who got a chance because someone else got hurt.
