Akib Nabi and Prince Yadav were among the seven net bowlers called up to help India in their preparations for the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting June 6 in New Chandigarh.
The group also features seamer Gurjapneet Singh, spinners Shivang Kumar, Saransh Jain and Jeeshan Ansari.
Prince Yadav is part of India’s ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series, while Auqib Nabi is in contention for a place in the Test squad following his impressive performances for Jammu and Kashmir in the past few seasons. He was instrumental in their maiden Ranji Trophy win earlier this year.
Nabi took 60 wickets at an average of 12.56 and won the man of the match award.
However, he missed out as the national selectors opted for a three-man pace attack comprising Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Kurnoor Brar.
“When picking a Test team in India we don’t need to pick a lot of seamers,” chief selector Ajit Agarkar said then. “He was close, but we’ve gone with the three we’ve picked this time.”
This is the second Test match between India and Afghanistan. Their previous meeting was in Bangalore in 2018 – the opening Test in Afghanistan – where India dominated by an innings and 262 runs in two days.
Following the Test, the ODI series will begin on June 14 in Dharamsala, while the remaining matches are scheduled for June 17 in Lucknow and June 20 in Chennai.
India vs Afghanistan Test Squad:
Shubman Gill (caught), Yashvi Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul (VC), Sai Sudarsan, Rishabh Pant, Devdut Padkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Sudhar, Kurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey and Harsh Dubey.