India Squad Vs Afghanistan: Hardik Pandya out? These 5 big decisions will be taken in the selection of Team India

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.

Pandya will be out, injury could be the reason

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?

Rest for Bumrah, chance for Shami!

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.

Padikkal in place of Sudarshan!

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.

Pant will be out of ODI team!

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.

Will Prince Yadav get a chance?

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.

Saket Sharma

Saket Sharma

The journey that started with the game show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' passed through stops like News Nation, India News, India.com and Editorji. In this connection, I have been associated with TV9 Hindi for the last 5 years. Here too it is my job to tell sports news. I have an understanding of all three worlds, TV, digital and production houses and overall experience of more than a decade. Every day I try to learn something new and do new creative things. Not afraid of failure and not proud of success. I just try to always give my best. This is what I have been doing till date and my intention is the same in future too. Be it sitting at the desk and narrating sports news in your own words or going to the field and capturing it on camera. In simple language, I am a player who brings to you every action happening on the sports field.

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