Washington Sundar is going back to the Ranji Trophy, and Naman Dhir gets his first T20I call-up
The BCCI has pulled Sundar out of the five T20Is against West Indies so he can play red-ball cricket for Tamil Nadu before the New Zealand Tests.
Oct 2, 2026
Washington Sundar will not play in the T20I series against West Indies. The BCCI took him out of the squad on Thursday, 1 October, so that he can play red-ball cricket for Tamil Nadu before India’s Tests in New Zealand, and named Naman Dhir in his place.
The board’s statement did not leave much room for reading between the lines. “With the Ranji Trophy season commencing on October 11, Washington will get an opportunity to play red-ball cricket for his state team and prepare for the Test series.”
Why the selectors want Sundar in whites
The New Zealand Tests are still seven weeks away. The first is at the Basin Reserve in Wellington from 19 to 23 November, and the second at Hagley Oval in Christchurch from 27 November to 1 December.
The first phase of the Ranji Trophy runs from 11 October to 5 November, which gives Sundar several first-class games in the weeks before that tour. He is currently in Japan with India’s Asian Games squad, who play Pakistan in the final in Nisshin on Saturday.
The T20I series starts on 6 October in Lucknow and finishes on 17 October in Bengaluru, with games in Ranchi, Indore and Hyderabad in between. Playing all five would have taken up the first week of the Ranji season, and India have decided a Test spinner-batter getting first-class overs matters more than a bilateral T20 series at home.
Dhir gets a second India call-up in a month
For Dhir this is a quick step up. He was picked for the ODI squad against West Indies in September, his first India call-up, and made his debut in Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September. He bowled five overs of off-spin for 33 and did not bat, as India chased 296 for the loss of two wickets.
The ODI pick was not universally liked. Hanuma Vihari asked “How is it possible?” and said Dhir’s domestic numbers were not convincing. That criticism looks less sharp in T20 cricket, which is the format Dhir has made his name in.
In September he made 173 off 64 balls for Amritsar Soormas against Mohali Kings in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 League, with 16 fours and 12 sixes. He got to his hundred in 37 balls. He plays his IPL cricket for Mumbai Indians and scored 318 runs at a strike rate of 147.22 for them in 2026.
Where he fits
Like Sundar, Dhir bats and bowls off-spin, so the shape of the squad does not change much. He joins a group led by Shreyas Iyer, with Tilak Varma as vice-captain, that already has Axar Patel, Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy as all-rounders.
That is a crowded list, and Dhir may not get a game in Lucknow. With Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi also in the squad, I would expect him to be picked, if at all, as a batter who can bowl two or three overs.