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The Indian cricket team selectors are reportedly considering resting senior players, including Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, and others, for the one-off Test against Afghanistan after IPL 2026 ends. This update comes weeks after reports said the BCCI planned to send a full-strength squad for the June match. The one-off Test against Afghanistan will take place from June 6 to June 10 following the IPL 2026 final which occurs just days before.

Selecters and team management require the players to rest because the time from the IPL finish to the Afghanistan Test start is too short for proper recovery. The Men in Blue will play three ODIs against Afghanistan before their upcoming England tour which will begin after the Test match finishes. The source explained that officials need to control senior players' workload because the one-off Test against Afghanistan does not award WTC points. The IPL conclusion will determine the ultimate decision.

Source shared: “There is not much gap between the IPL final and the Afghanistan Test, so the selectors and management will be wary of not burning out the players, as there are three ODIs, then the white-ball series in England. There are no WTC points in the Afghanistan Test, and the stakeholders need to carefully manage the workload because some of the players would be on the road for close to two months and have a lot of cricket in the remainder of the year.” 

The report showed that selectors have been tracking fast bowlers and spinners who achieved success in domestic cricket. The Afghanistan Test will see some players make their first international appearance. Gurnoor Brar and Manav Suthar are among the players who impressed the selectors. The selectors will use Harsh Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, and Auqib Nabi when they need to rest their top players for workload management purposes.

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Source again shared:“One thing is clear with this selection panel: they rarely jump the gun. It’s no secret that Gurnoor and Manav have been very impressive, as have Harsh, Auqib and Devdutt. It will all boil down to the discussions between the think tank and the medical team because optimum utilisation of resources is going to be key here. No point putting your star players under the sun for a five-day fixture which offers no WTC points,”