India’s Test squad for the Sri Lanka series has been reshaped by three forced changes in two weeks. Jasprit Bumrah, Sai Sudharsan, and Washington Sundar are all out. Auqib Nabi and Sarfaraz Khan have been called in as replacements. The 15 players who will take the field at Galle on August 15 look different from the squad the BCCI announced on July 28.
The final squad: Shubman Gill [C], KL Rahul [VC], Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant [WK], Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel [WK], Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Auqib Nabi, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain.
The original announcement on July 28 had included both Bumrah and Sudharsan, but with a note that both were subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence. That clearance never came for either player. Bumrah was ruled out on August 3 with a left knee injury sustained during the ODI series against England in Cardiff. Sudharsan followed on August 9 with a right toe stress reaction. Sundar, who had a hamstring injury from the same England series, was ruled out of the first Test at the time of squad announcement and now looks unlikely for the second Test as well.
Auqib Nabi, the 29-year-old pace bowler from Sheeri village in Baramulla, replaced Bumrah. He becomes the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to be selected in India’s Test squad. Parvez Rasool and Umran Malik received senior India call-ups before him, but neither was picked for Tests. Nabi’s domestic numbers earned this: 104 wickets across the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, including 60 in 2025-26 when he was named Player of the Tournament and helped J&K win their first ever Ranji Trophy title. He also picked up six wickets in two first-class matches on the India A tour of Sri Lanka.
Sarfaraz Khan replaced Sudharsan. The 28-year-old has played six Tests for India, the last against New Zealand in Mumbai in 2024. His selection is a straightforward like-for-like replacement in the middle order.
The squad also features two significant additions from the original announcement. Ravindra Jadeja returns to Test cricket after missing India’s recent assignments with a tennis elbow injury suffered during the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 in May. His last appearance for India was in January 2026 in an ODI against New Zealand. Saransh Jain, the 33-year-old Madhya Pradesh all-rounder, earned a maiden Test call-up. He took 30 wickets in seven Ranji Trophy matches last season and delivered 5/49 in the Duleep Trophy final. His first-class record reads 181 wickets and 2,223 runs with 10 five-wicket hauls.
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What Galle Demands From This Reshaped Squad
The Galle International Cricket Stadium has historically been one of the most spin-friendly venues in world cricket. The loss of Bumrah hurts, but it hurts less in Galle than it would in England or Australia. Jadeja’s return on turning pitches matters more than any pace replacement.
“We know what’s in front of us, we know what we are playing for. We can do the volume, we can push our limits, we can tick all the boxes.”
Gautam Gambhir, BCCI media interaction, August 6, 2026, Colombo
India’s spin options are deep. Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, and Saransh Jain give the selectors four genuine choices. The pace attack of Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, and Auqib Nabi is less proven at international level without Bumrah, but the conditions in Sri Lanka reduce the burden on fast bowlers.
The warm-up match in Colombo (August 7-9) provided evidence that the squad is settling. India chased down 207 comfortably, winning by six wickets. Devdutt Padikkal scored an unbeaten 142. Jadeja contributed 50. Jaiswal and Gill opened with a 105-run partnership. Captain Gill, who had missed the first two days with a finger injury sustained during training, returned on the final day and scored 44 off 54 balls.
“Very much ready.”
Sairaj Bahutule, India spin bowling coach, on Gill’s fitness for the first Test, August 10, 2026
Insider Read:
Three players named in the original 15 being unavailable within two weeks is not bad luck. It is a pattern. Bumrah’s knee problem came from the England ODI series in July. Sudharsan’s toe stress reaction was an existing concern flagged at the time of selection. Sundar’s hamstring was also from the England tour. All three were either carrying injuries into the squad announcement or broke down in the gap between selection and the series.
The BCCI introduced the fitness-conditional selection model through the Centre of Excellence. The idea is sound: name your best players, give them time to prove fitness, and have replacements ready. But when two out of two conditional picks fail their clearance and a third player who was already ruled out of the first Test now looks set to miss the entire series, the model starts to look less like careful management and more like selective optimism. Naming players you suspect will not be fit and then replacing them creates uncertainty in the squad and puts late call-ups at a disadvantage. Auqib Nabi had less than two weeks to prepare for what could be his Test debut. Sarfaraz Khan joined the squad in Colombo just days before the team travels to Galle.
India’s next 12 months include home Tests, an away schedule, and the 2027 World Cup. The injury list is growing. The fitness clearance system needs to decide earlier, not later.
This two-match series is also critical for India’s WTC 2025-27 campaign. India are currently fifth in the standings at 48.15%. A 2-0 win in Sri Lanka would lift them to 57.58%, but that still keeps them behind Bangladesh at 58.33%. Every dropped point from here makes the path to the WTC Final harder. For Gill’s captaincy, a clean sweep in tough conditions with a reshaped squad would be the strongest statement of his tenure so far
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