Team India’s first contingent has arrived in Mullanpur for the one-off Test against Afghanistan. Since the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season ended on May 31, players like Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar, Gurnoor Brar, and Mohammed Siraj couldn’t arrive early in New Chandigarh.
Team India arrive for IND vs AFG Test
KL Rahul, who was named vice-captain, led the first contingent to Mullanpur. Gill is expected to arrive with the remaining players on June 3. One can’t forget that the Gujarat Titans’ return to the team hotel was delayed due to a fire inside the team bus while arriving back from the IPL 2026 final.
Furthermore, the players who have featured in the IPL 2026 Playoffs have had virtually no rest and preparation time. Sundar and Siraj were even part of India’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign and have been on the road since February. Apart from the 15-man squad, six more players have travelled to Mullanpur with Team India.
Since several bowlers like Prasidh and Siraj will be tired from playing and constant travel in IPL 2026, six net bowlers have also joined the squad. Among these are Auqib Nabi, who’s snub has caused controversy, and Prince Yadav, who has been picked for the ODI team.
As for Afghanistan, they had arrived in India on May 27 and had extra days to train for the one-off Test. Barring Azmatullah Omarzai, who was part of the Punjab Kings, other players flew in. The same goes for Rashid Khan, but he’s part of the ODI team and will not feature in the Test.
India squad for Afghanistan Test
Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
Net bowlers: Gurjapneet Singh, Auqib Nabi, Prince Yadav, Saransh Jain, Zeeshan Ansari, Shivang Kumar
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