The selectors picked 15 players for India’s one-off Test against Afghanistan. Auqib Nabi was not one of them. That’s the short version of the story. The longer version is far more troubling, and it says a lot about how Indian cricket is being run right now.
Auqib Nabi, the pacer from Jammu & Kashmir, took 60 wickets in 10 Ranji Trophy matches this season. His average was 12.56. He led J&K to their first-ever Ranji Trophy title. By any fair reading of those numbers, he had one of the best seasons any fast bowler has had in Indian domestic cricket in years. And yet, when the selectors sat down to pick India’s squad, his name wasn’t called.
Former India cricketer and ex-chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar didn’t hold back when asked about this. Speaking to the Times of India, he said the decision was “absolutely absurd and baffling.” He went further and said that if domestic cricket performances are not going to be used as a yardstick for picking players, then the BCCI should simply scrap domestic cricket altogether. That’s a bold thing to say. But when you look at the facts, it’s hard to argue with him.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s put Nabi’s season into context. He took 60 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 12.56. That kind of bowling average in first-class cricket is almost unheard of. Only two pacers in the history of the Ranji Trophy have taken 60 or more wickets in a single season, Dodda Ganesh, who took 62 in the 1998-99 season, and Jaydev Unadkat, who took 67 in 2019-20. Nabi has now joined that very short list.
And it’s not like this was a one-season wonder either. In the previous season, Nabi took 44 wickets in just 8 matches, which was the second-highest tally in that edition of the tournament. In total, he has 156 wickets from 41 first-class matches. Of those, 104 have come in just the last two seasons. He has been on a sharp rise, and his numbers show it clearly.
So the question is simple: if not Nabi, then who deserved to be in that squad more than him?
A Look at Who Made the Cut
The squad that was announced includes several names that are familiar and expected, Shubman Gill leading the side, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Kuldeep Yadav among them. These are players with solid international experience, and their inclusion makes sense.
But when you look at the pace bowling options, things get harder to understand. The squad includes Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Gurnoor Brar. Each of them has their own merits. However, none of them came into this selection on the back of a season even remotely close to what Nabi just delivered. That’s the part that stings.
India is playing a Test match. This is the longest format, the one that rewards hard work, consistency, and the ability to grind through long spells. If there was ever a format where you would want to reward a bowler who just took 60 wickets in domestic cricket, this is it.
The BCCI’s Contradictory Stand
Here is where the real problem lies. Not too long ago, the BCCI made it very clear that all cricketers whether they are Test regulars or on the fringes of selection must play in the Ranji Trophy. The board sent out a strong message: if you want to be considered for the national team, you need to put in the work at the domestic level. Several senior players flew back from abroad mid-season to play Ranji matches just to follow this rule.
The idea behind that policy was sound. Domestic cricket, especially the Ranji Trophy, is meant to be the platform where players earn their place in the national team. You perform there, you get noticed, you get picked. That’s how the system is supposed to work.
But what happened in this case? Nabi followed the rules. He didn’t just play Ranji Cricket he dominated it. He took 60 wickets and won the title for his state. And then he was ignored.
So what message does this send to every young cricketer sitting in a smaller state, putting in the hard work day after day, hoping that a big domestic season will open the door to an India call-up? It tells them that maybe the door isn’t really open. And that’s a dangerous message to send.
It’s Not Just About Nabi
This situation is about more than one player. It’s about the trust that cricketers from smaller states and less glamorous cricketing backgrounds place in the system. India has 28 states and 8 union territories. Not every talented cricketer grows up in Mumbai, Delhi, or Karnataka, the states that have historically produced most of India’s international players.
Over the years, players from states like J&K have had to work twice as hard just to be noticed. The Ranji Trophy was supposed to be the great equalizer, the one platform where a bowler from J&K could stand next to a bowler from Mumbai, and let the numbers speak. When those numbers are ignored, the system fails the people it was built to serve.
Nabi’s case is particularly hard to accept because his numbers weren’t just good, they were historic. He didn’t sneak into the record books with a mildly impressive season. He put up figures that only two other pacers in the entire history of the Ranji Trophy have matched.
What Vengsarkar Got Right
Dilip Vengsarkar is not someone who speaks loosely. He captained India, played 116 Tests, and served as the chief selector. When he calls a selection decision “absurd,” it carries weight. And his core point, that if domestic performances don’t matter, then domestic cricket should be scrapped, is not an overreaction. It’s a logical conclusion.
The BCCI cannot have it both ways. Either the Ranji Trophy matters, in which case its best performers must be rewarded with national selection opportunities. Or it doesn’t, in which case the board should stop using it as a condition for international availability and stop telling players their domestic performances will be noticed.
Right now, it feels like the BCCI is using the Ranji Trophy as a tool to keep players busy and engaged without actually using it as a genuine selection filter. That’s not fair to the players, and it’s not fair to the competition itself.
The Selectors Need to Answer
Selectors have always had the right to make calls based on factors beyond raw numbers, team balance, conditions, long-term planning, and so on. That’s part of the job. Sometimes a technically sound player might be picked over a statistically better one because of how they fit into a particular game plan.
But in this case, no clear reasoning has come out. There has been no explanation for why a bowler who just had one of the best domestic seasons in recent Indian cricket history was not even considered for a squad that is playing a single Test match against a team that India is expected to beat comfortably. If there was a good reason, the selectors should say it out loud. Silence only makes the decision look worse.
Nabi deserved at least a conversation. Even if the final call went against him, some transparency about why would have shown that his season was seen and valued. Instead, the complete absence of his name suggests it wasn’t even a close debate, and that’s the most troubling part of all.
A System That Must Do Better
Indian cricket is in a strong place right now. The national team is competitive across all formats, there’s no shortage of talent coming through, and the domestic structure is robust. But a system is only as good as the trust people have in it. When a player puts up the kind of numbers Nabi did and still gets ignored, that trust takes a hit.
The BCCI has built something impressive. The Ranji Trophy is one of the toughest and most respected domestic tournaments in world cricket. It would be a shame to let it become a competition that players feel they have to participate in without it actually helping their careers.
Auqib Nabi’s story this season should have been a celebration, a young pacer from J&K leading his state to glory with a historic wicket haul, earning a well-deserved India call-up. Instead, it has become a case study in how the system can let hardworking players down. That needs to change.
Indian squad for one-off Test against Afghanistan
Shubman Gill (C), KL Rahul (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar, Manav Suthar, Harsh Dubey
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