Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj in focus as India weigh Afghanistan Test workload after IPL

NEW DELHI: The tight schedule for the Indian team has put the national selectors in a fix as they prepare to pick the fast bowlers for the one-off Test against Afghanistan, scheduled to be played in Chandigarh from June 6. TOI understands that the selectors have a meeting scheduled with the BCCI to discuss the roadmap for the next few months. The selection meeting could take place over the weekend or next week.

It is learnt that the selectors and the team management have expressed their desire to field the strongest XI in every Test. India have to play nine Tests in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle over the next nine months. However, the Test against Afghanistan is excluded from that cycle.

The main dilemma at the moment is whether to push the frontline pacers for the Test, with the IPL due to finish on May 31. According to sources, the selectors are waiting to see which teams make it to the playoffs before taking a call on the pace-bowling attack. As of Tuesday, Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians were the only two teams to have been eliminated from the IPL playoffs.

Jasprit Bumrah is the only fast bowler from these two teams who is a Test regular. However, Bumrah’s workload has been a sensitive topic for years. The other Test regulars, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, are with Gujarat Titans, who are in contention to make the playoffs in the last week of May.