SRH Star Gets India A Test Call-Up Despite No Ranji Trophy Game In 6 Years

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The Indian selectors have started looking at the next generation of spinners but Ajit Agarkar and his team have discovered a distinct lack of desired quality in wrist spinners who can be Kuldeep Yadav's understudy in the coming years. In white ball, there is Ravi Bishnoi who plays on and off for India in T20Is while Vipraj Nigam is a part of India A set-up in List A games. However there aren't too many on the horizon when it comes to red ball cricket. As a result, 26-year-old former India U-19 leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari has been fast-tracked into the India A team for the two 'Tests' against Sri Lanka A later this month.

But what has surprised many in the Indian cricketing circle is the fact that although Ansari took 21 wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last season, he has last played a Ranji Trophy match back in 2020.

For the past six years, the various selection committees of Uttar Pradesh never found him good enough to add to his five Ranji Trophy caps.

In fact, Ansari's childhood coach Gopal Singh was surprised, but in a pleasant manner.

“I thought he would be in the India A white ball side as he took 21 wickets in Vijay Hazare Trophy. But I am happy they considered him for the red ball. Last time when he used to play Ranji Trophy back in 2020, he used to flight the ball and he still bowls a lethal googly,” Gopal told PTI.

“But due to demands of white ball cricket, he now has to bowl a bit quicker. But I believe that he has impressed everyone at the Indian Test team's nets in Mullanpur which led to a call-up,” Gopal added. A small piece of statistics will be good for people to understand why national selectors haven't had too many options to work upon.

Mayank Mishra, Siddharth Desai, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kumar Kartikeya, Arjun Sharma, Vishal Jayswal and Saurabh Kumar are seven slow left-arm orthodox bowlers who are among the top 10 wicket-takers during last Ranj Trophy season where J&K seamer Auqib Nabi ended with 60 wickets.

Strangely there was only one leg-break bowler in top-10 — Karnataka veteran Shreyas Gopal, who was third in the list with 48 scalps.

However Gopal, who would be 33 in some months, isn't in the radar of national selectors anymore which was evident when they picked a younger white ball spinner, who hasn't played red ball cricket for more than half a decade.

Between 11 to 20, there are two off-spinners -- 33-year-old Saransh Jain, who is with India A and domestic doyen Jalaj Saxena, who wasn't considered even during his prime.

There are two pace bowlers Mohammed Nidheesh of Kerala and Sunil Kumar of J&K with another six left-arm orthodox spinners have found their place — Sagar Udeshi, Shams Mulani, Amit Shukla, Nachiket Bhute, Parth Rekhade, Anukul Roy.

So, 13 out of 20 bowlers are left-arm spinners and the lone leg-break bowler is not even in contention.

Gopal's name was discussed for selection way back in 2017 when Kuldeep was a rookie left-arm wrist spinner, but it did not take much headway.

A former national selector, who understands the process, cited a few important reasons for this trend.

“How many state teams are playing frontline leg-spinners? With 5 mm grass cover, all state teams have three fast bowlers and two left-arm spinners who can bat.

“No domestic captain actually wants to punt on wrist spinners as it needs courage to persist with one even if they get hit for a few sixes,” he told PTI.

“The Second and an important aspect is IPL. In the IPL, you need restrictive options. More and more scouts are watching Ranji Trophy games and left-arm spinners are the need of the hour. You will have a Bishnoi but just do check how many red ball games he has played (11 in 7 years since senior state debut).

“How many games has Rahul Chahar played? 27 in 10 years? So, the selectors aren't wrong if they show a leap of faith in Ansari,” the former selector said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

June 16, 2026 at 08:56PM

from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/Bxsky9P
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