India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has spilt the beans on Mohammed Siraj's availability for the upcoming one-off Test against Afghanistan. Recently,
there were reports that Siraj would not be taking a part in the red-ball encounter and Auqib Nabi would be handed a place in the squad as a backup for the senior pacer.
Contrary to the reports, ten Doeschate has said that there is no fitness concern with Siraj and that the ace pacer is ready to bowl full throttle in the upcoming game, which gets underway on Saturday, June 06, at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh. This further clarified that Auqib Nabi will continue being with the Shubman Gill-led side, but only as a net bowler.
"Mohammed Siraj is fit and good to go," ten Doeschate said at the pre-match press conference while busting the rumours around the bowler's availability for the match.
Furthermore, the assistant coach also added that there are high chances that both Harsh Dubey and Manav Suthar, first-timers to the Indian squad, might well get their debut Test cap ahead of the upcoming game. He further said that a lot will depend on team combinations, as the management is still thinking about whom to pair with Kuldeep Yadav, the frontline spinner.
"As far as two new spinners (Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey) are concerned, there is a small chance that both will play. We haven't finalised who among the two will play alongside Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar," ten Doeschate revealed.
Notably, Dubey and Suthar have both earned their respective spots in India's 15-man squad on the back of consistently impressive performances in domestic cricket over the last two to three seasons. The duo have been playing together since age-group cricket and share a good bond with each other. It will be interesting to see if their good camaraderie helps in deriving optimum results for the Indian team.
The Test gets underway on Friday but will not be a part of the World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle since Afghanistan are not among the top-tier teams in the ICC Rankings.
