3 reasons why Shahbaz Ahamad's selection in India A squad for Rising Stars Asia Cup 2026 is the right move

The BCCI on Monday, November 2, announced a 15-member India A squad for the Rising Stars Asia Cup 2026, and Shahbaz Ahamad's name sits in the middle of it. Tilak Varma captains the side, with Rajat Patidar as his deputy. The tournament is scheduled to be held in Doha from November 19 to 29.

The selectors loaded the squad with all-rounders: Suryansh Shedge, Vipraj Nigam, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian and Shahbaz. Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Rinku Singh provide the top-order power, and Harshit Rana is back in competitive cricket after the injury that cut short his England tour in July.

India A are in Group B with Pakistan A, Nepal and the UAE, while Group A contains Bangladesh A, Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan A and Hong Kong, China. The top two from each group reach the semifinals on November 26 and 27, and the final is on November 29. India A open against Nepal on November 20, face Pakistan A on November 22, and meet the UAE on November 24.

Shahbaz Ahamad's return has been slow. The left-arm spinner's most recent senior call-up came in December 2025 for the last two T20Is against South Africa after Axar Patel was ruled out through illness. Before that, his most recent India appearance was the 2023 Asian Games final against Afghanistan in Hangzhou. Three ODIs and two T20Is is a thin international record for a player with his domestic output.

Shahbaz Ahamad's recent performances

In Bengal's latest Ranji Trophy match against Kerala at the KCA Stadium in Mangalapuram, Shahbaz Ahamad came in at 108 for five and made 121 from 203 balls, an innings of eight fours and four sixes that carried his side to 350 on a surface helping the spinners. He reached three figures with a six, put on 103 with Sumanta Gupta for the seventh wicket and 59 with Pradipta Pramanik for the eighth, then took two wickets in each Kerala innings for match figures of 4/41. Bengal won by 287 runs and he was named Player of the Match. It was his third first-class hundred, and it came as he worked back from the knee injury that cost him the start of the season.

The season's other numbers hold up. He was Player of the Match against Services after picking up 5/42 against Haryana at Lahli in January 2026. In the 2025-26 Ranji season, the 31-year-old made 434 runs and took 39 wickets, the most for Bengal.

Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja's ODI form points to Shahbaz Ahamad

The second strand of the case is about the men ahead of him in the queue. Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja have had lean recent ODI series, with bat and ball, and the returns have not matched what India asks of a spin all-rounder down the order.

Since winning the 2025 Champions Trophy, Jadeja had taken just a solitary wicket in seven matches before accounting for two in the second ODI against the West Indies. Shockingly, his last half-century in the format came almost six years back in December 2020 in Australia.

Axar missed the West Indies series after being picked in the Asian Games 2026 squad. His last ODI assignment was the away series in England in July. The 32-year-old scored picked up five wickets and scored 59 runs, including two single-digit scores.

Batting depth, and the Bengal rescue acts

India's ODI lower order demands all-rounders who can turn 280 into 350 in the last 10 overs, and a No. 7 who bowls left-arm spin is worth more than a specialist who does one job. Bengal have used Shahbaz exactly that way. In 114 T20 games, he has 1,355 runs at a strike rate of 135.77 and 73 wickets at 7.87 an over, numbers of a player who can hold his place with either skill on a given day.

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