Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi received his much-awaited India call-up on Monday as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named him as the replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the Test squad for the series against Sri Lanka, starting August 15.
The 29-year-old seamer from Baramulla is only the second cricketer from J&K to make it to the national side after Parvez Rasool. Nabi missed out on selection for the recent series despite setting the domestic charts on fire over the last two seasons, culminating in J&K’s historic Ranji Trophy triumph earlier this year.
Nabi claimed 104 wickets across the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, including 60 wickets in the 2025-26 campaign, playing a pivotal role in Jammu and Kashmir’s maiden Ranji Trophy triumph. Nabi was part of the India A squad that toured Sri Lanka recently. He returned six wickets in the two matches played in Galle against Sri Lanka A.
Meanwhile, Bumrah’s absence will leave a huge dent in the Indian attack as they aim to revive their World Test Championship (WTC) hopes. India are fifth on the WTC table and the two Tests in Sri Lanka are crucial to keep their WTC final qualification hopes alive.
The Indian Express understands that the impact injury he sustained at Cardiff has only aggravated the knee issue that has been persisting since the T20 World Cup.
While Bumrah did recover from that injury and was cleared to feature in the IPL without any trouble, the blow he suffered in England aggravated the underlying issue.
India’s updated squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka: Shubman Gill (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sai Sudharsan*, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi.