The Gurnoor-Auqib debate and priorities for selection

Numbers don't always tell the tale

- Rasesh Mandani

“Ab to milenge. Bus short-pitched ball mat daalna,” Rashid Khan ribs Gurnoor Brar in a widely watched Gujarat Titans video about their impending battle in next month's India-Afghanistan ODI series.

Before he was bought for ₹1.3 crore by GT in the 2025 IPL auction, Brar had played a solitary IPL match, for Punjab Kings in 2023. However, the national selectors had been watching the tall Punjab fast bowler for the last season and a half, according to national chief selector Ajit Agarkar.

Brar’s selection over Augib Nabi for the Afghanistan Test is a classic case of attributes prevailing, while the latter's red-ball skills, and the ability to move the ball in the air and off the seam, saw him take 60 wickets in Jammu and Kashmir's Ranji Trophy win last season. It included a five-wicket innings haul in the final against Karnataka ona flat pitch.

However, it was nowhere as left field as England selecting Shoaib Bashir on a viral forward from captain Ben Stokes to the selector’s WhatsApp group. Picked for his higher release point to a traditional off-spinner, Bashir, 22, ended up with 18 wickets in three Tests on debut in India, adding to his modest haul of 10 first-class wickets.