Team India have begun assembling in Mullanpur ahead of their one-off Test against Afghanistan, with vice-captain KL Rahul leading the first batch of arrivals. The remainder of the squad, including captain Shubman Gill, is expected to join shortly after wrapping up IPL 2026 commitments.
The timing of the fixture has left many Indian players with almost no break between tournaments. Several squad members featured in the IPL playoffs, while Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar have been on the road for months due to international assignments, including the T20 World Cup.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
To ensure adequate support during training sessions, India have brought six additional net bowlers to Mullanpur. The list includes Auqib Nabi and Prince Yadav, along with Saransh Jain, Gurjapneet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari and Shivang Kumar.
The team’s arrival comes after an eventful end to the IPL season. Players from Gujarat Titans experienced travel delays following a fire inside the team bus after the IPL final. Despite the disruption, preparations for the Afghanistan Test are expected to proceed smoothly.
Afghanistan may hold a slight advantage in terms of preparation time, having reached India on May 27. Most of their players have already spent several days training, although star spinner Rashid Khan will not feature in the Test squad.
India will now focus on adjusting quickly to the longer format as they gear up for the red-ball contest.
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
