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The long wait is over for Auqib Nabi. His tireless efforts in the Indian domestic cricket set up, including the Ranji trophy, have at last been rewarded. The 29-year-old seamer from Jammu and Kashmir has been called into the Indian team to replace the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the nation’s Test squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, comprising two Test matches. 

The first Test match will begin on August 15 and end on August 19. The second Test will be held from August 23 to 27. Both matches will be in Galle. The matches are part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle. Both India and Sri Lanka will seek to improve their positions in the Test ranking with the objective of qualifying for the WTC final.

Nabi has been in great form for the last two years. He took 104 wickets across the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, including 60 wickets in the 2025-26 campaign, where he played a very important role in Jammu and Kashmir’s maiden Ranji Trophy triumph. He was also part of the India A squad that toured Sri Lanka recently, where he claimed six wickets in two first-class matches.

Nabi will be the third Jammu and Kashmir player after Parvez Rasool and Umran Malik to be picked for India. It is justice at last for Nabi, who deserved to be part of the original Test team given his incredible performances with the ball for Jammu and Kashmir. For India A, during their recent tour of Sri Lanka, he took six wickets in the two four-day games.

Nabi deserves to play: Harbhajan Singh

Former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes Nabi had done enough to warrant a place in the Indian Test team. “A player like Nabi, who has worked tirelessly in the Ranji Trophy and picked so many wickets, definitely deserves to play for India. The selectors should never pick players from the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Test team,” he said.

Nabi proved unstoppable with the ball last Ranji season, picking up 60 wickets in 10 matches at an incredible average of 12.56 to help Jammu and Kashmir script history by winning its first Ranji Trophy title. With seven five-wicket hauls through the season, including 5 for 54 in the final against Karnataka, along with 245 runs with the bat, Nabi was the unanimous choice for the player of the series.

Nabi was match winner when it mattered

He came up with match-winning performances when it mattered most. His performances included a five-wicket haul against the formidable Mumbai in the season opener, a 12-wicket haul against Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-final and nine wickets against Bengal in the semis. This year, he was bought by the Delhi Capitals for 8.40 crore in the IPL auction 2026.

But despite his lion-hearted efforts and good performances, the selectors were not convinced. He was not picked for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June, while uncapped pacers Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar got the nod. At that time, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said, “Auqib Nabi is someone who has had a great season. But you don’t necessarily pick a lot of seamers when you pick a Test team in India. He was close, but at this point, we have gone with the ones that we have picked.”

However, now that thinking seems to have changed. With Bumrah ruled out of the Sri Lanka Tests, the selectors finally handed Nabi his maiden call-up to the Indian team. From helping out the team as a net bowler to finally commanding a place in the team, Nabi’s journey has come full circle.

Team India facing many injury problems

India is facing injury problems on several fronts. Bumrah was ruled out of the touring group because he has not yet recovered from the left knee problem that he picked up in Cardiff during the second ODI against England last month. India are also without the services of Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who are out with hamstring and quadriceps injuries, respectively. 

Washington Sundar is down with a hamstring injury, while Akash Deep is in the middle of a long layoff following stress reactions on his back. Apart from Nabi, India’s seam attack for the tour includes Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar. A three-day warm-up match is scheduled to be held in Colombo from August 7.

India squad for Sri Lanka Tests: Shubman Gill (captain), KL Rahul (vice-capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), B. Sai Sudharsan (subject to fitness clearance), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain.