Former India batter S Badrinath took a sly dig at head coach Gautam Gambhir after the national selection committee recently announced the T20I squad for the forthcoming three-match series against Afghanistan, starting September 13 in Delhi.

The 15-member squad marked a host of changes, with several first-choice players slated for a return from injury. This includes pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, all-rounders Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana, all of whom are yet to receive their fitness clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.

Citing coach Gambhir’s preferences, Badrinath questioned the selections of Sundar and Reddy, who are yet to establish themselves in the format.

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“At first look, the coach’s favourites are back. Washington Sundar is getting tremendous backing in Indian cricket. He needs to really make use of it. And somehow I don’t rate Nitish Kumar Reddy so high. That’s because of his bowling. I still feel he’s a batter and not someone I rate with the ball,” Badrinath said on his YouTube channel.

Badrinath, however, said that Bumrah’s potential return is a big boost for the side ahead of the Asian Games gold medal defence starting later this month in Japan. Bumrah last featured in the ODI series in England in July, before a left knee injury ruled him out of the subsequent Sri Lanka tour.

“Bumrah’s return is a huge positive. It could also have been that Bumrah told the management that he wanted to play these three matches. Then they have to select him. We don’t know that. Bumrah might have spoken to Gambhir or the selection committee and said he wants to play because he hasn’t played cricket for long. So it could have been Bumrah’s option,” said Badrinath.

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India’s squad for Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*