Former India batter Subramaniam Badrinath has raised critical questions regarding the selection strategy of India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Badrinath claimed Gambhir appears "hell-bent on creating all-rounders", noting that this fixation has led to certain players being fast-tracked into the squad before clearing essential fitness benchmarks.
According to Badrinath, India are yet to produce a proven player capable of filling the crucial void left by Hardik Pandya's injury history. He highlighted that Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy are the only definite all-rounders in the mix, whereas the team management is trying "very hard" to mold Harshit Rana into one.
“All three come into the all-rounder category. In this, Sundar and Nitish are definite all-rounders. But with Harshit Rana, they are trying very hard to make him an all-rounder. Gautam Gambhir seems hell-bent on creating all-rounders and multidimensional cricketers. Because of that desperation, these three are constantly getting picked even when they are dealing with injury issues,” Badrinath said.
“But they are not able to create the next proper all-rounder. There is no one after Hardik Pandya who is a proven all-rounder. But they are desperately trying to create more. This desperation is the reason they are getting picked even though they don't clear the fitness parameters,” he added.
India's original 15-member squad for the upcoming Afghanistan T20I series featured Sundar, Reddy and Rana, with all three initially subject to fitness clearance. However, Rana was ruled out after picking up a strain during a match simulation on September 7, with Yash Thakur named as his replacement.
On the other hand, Sundar, Reddy and Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah have all been cleared to play in the Afghanistan series as well as the 2026 Asian Games.
India will begin their three-match T20I series against Afghanistan on September 13, followed by matches on September 15 and 17. All three matches will be held in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
The same team will then move towards the Asian Games in Japan, where India are the defending champions. The men's cricket campaign begins with the quarter-finals on September 28, with the semi-finals scheduled for October 1 and the final on October 3.
India's updated squad for Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur
India squad for the 2026 Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur
