
Sanjeev Kumar
khelja|19-05-2026
Team India's selection (Photo: PTI)
India Squad for Afghanistan Series: The excitement of IPL 2026 is going to stop this month, after which the international series will start again. India has to play its first international series with Afghanistan after IPL 2026. Afghanistan team will be on India tour for 1 Test and 3 ODI series. Afghanistan's India tour will start from June 6, for which the Indian team is to be announced in Guwahati. The team will be announced for both Test and ODI. There is news that star all-rounder Hardik Pandya may be kept out of the ODI team while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah may be kept out of the Test team.
Apart from this, some other big decisions can also be taken in this selection meeting.Indian selectors may take the decision to keep Hardik Pandya out of the ODI series against Afghanistan due to his fitness. Due to back injury, Pandya has been out of many matches of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026. At present, he is in the recovery phase and it is believed that he will be seen playing in the last group match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens.
But, it is difficult to say whether he will be able to make a place in Team India for the ODI series against Afghanistan?Considering Bumrah's workload against Afghanistan, there is also news of him being given rest. If Bumrah gets rest, then the Indian selectors can give Shami a chance in the Indian Test team, which can be their second major decision taken in the team selection.
Indian selectors can also decide to give Devdutt Padikkal a chance in the Test team. As it has been said earlier in many reports that Sai Sudarshan may have to be dropped from the Test team.
In such a situation, he can be replaced by Padikkal, who has scored a lot of runs in red ball cricket this season in domestic cricket.Indian selectors can also decide to drop Rishabh Pant from the ODI team. According to reports, KL Rahul is the selectors' first choice as a wicketkeeper batsman. As the second wicketkeeper, he can choose Sanju Samson or Ishan Kishan, who are in excellent form right now. At the same time, the continuous silence of Pant's bat can become the reason for his exclusion from the ODI team.
Indian selectors can take a big decision of giving a chance to Prince Yadav in the Indian ODI team. Prince Yadav has impressed a lot with his speed and variation during IPL 2026.




