General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Selection Day

Selection Day is an Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age drama television series released globally on Netflix on December 28, 2018, based on Aravind Adiga's 2016 novel of the same name. It follows two teenage brothers, Radha and Manju Kumar, who are groomed by their strict, cricket-obsessed father to become star cricket players in Mumbai.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original release	December 28, 2018, worldwide on Netflix¹
Format	One season, 12 episodes, TV-14 drama, original language Hindi³
Basis	Aravind Adiga's 2016 novel Selection Day, published by Scribner (304 pages)²^•⁴
Lead actors	Mohammad Samad as Manju Kumar and Yash Shashank Dholye as Radha Kumar, both newcomers to the series¹^•⁵
Directors	Udayan Prasad and Karan Boolani³
Production companies	Seven Stories Ltd and Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network Pvt. Ltd.¹
Reception	44% Tomatometer and 72% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; 7.3/10 on IMDb from about 2,600 users³^•⁵

Spoilers

Premise

Fourteen-year-old Manju is destined for cricket greatness, with one problem: he hates cricket. Controlled from a young age by his overbearing, cricket-obsessed father, Manju's main role in life is to support his older brother and fellow cricket star, Radha. When the family moves to Mumbai and the brothers start at a new school, Manju discovers interests outside of cricket and begins slipping away from Radha and his father's grasp. He becomes friends with Radha's greatest cricket rival, a boy described in the official synopsis as the very definition of freedom and confidence, concepts Manju has never experienced himself.¹

Netflix's own listing summarizes the show as two teen cricket prodigies struggling against their overbearing father and a system stacked against them to realize their own ambitions and identities.⁶

The source novel

The series adapts Selection Day, the fourth novel by Booker Prize-winning author Aravind Adiga, set in the world of cricket in Mumbai. According to a review in Publishers Weekly, the novel follows teenage brothers Radha Krishna and Manjunath Kumar, formed and broken by their visionary but abusive father, Mohan. Brought to Mumbai as children after their mother left, the boys grow up in a one-room brick shed divided by a green curtain, spending every hour preparing for a future that depends on outshining other boys on the cricket field. Radha is known throughout Mumbai as the best batsman and Manju as the second best, a ranking that is shockingly upturned in the course of the story.⁴

Scholarly commentary on the novel emphasizes its social dimension: it deals with hidden realities of Indian cricket, conflicts between money and talent, caste and capacity, and the politics and economics of a sport the author presents as compromised by unprofessional considerations.⁷

Production and announcement

Netflix announced Selection Day on August 3, 2017, together with Again, a supernatural detective series, as two new Indian originals. Erik Barmack, then vice president of international original series at Netflix, described the projects as specifically local subjects with global appeal. The adaptation was to be produced in partnership with Seven Stories, the UK-based production company of directors Anand Tucker and Sharon Maguire, part of the All3Media group.⁸

The completed series was produced by Seven Stories Ltd and Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network Pvt. Ltd., the production company of the Indian actor Anil Kapoor. Producer Anand Tucker said he felt Adiga's book deserved a global stage, describing it as a universal story of family, cricket, and coming of age.¹

Cast

The series stars Mohammad Samad as Manju Kumar and Yash Shashank Dholye as Radha Kumar, both cast as newcomers. The supporting cast includes Rajesh Tailang as the brothers' father Mohan Kumar, Mahesh Manjrekar as Tommy Sir, Ratna Pathak Shah as Nellie, Shiv Panditt as Lord Subramanyam, Akshay Oberoi as Anand Mehta, Parul Gulati as Monica Tandon, and Karanvir Malhotra as Javed Ansari, the rival who befriends Manju.¹^•⁵

Release and reception

The series premiered globally on Netflix on December 28, 2018, and its twelve episodes ran through April 19, 2019.¹^•⁹ On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 holds a 44% Tomatometer based on 9 reviews, with 4 fresh and 5 rotten, and an average of 5.00/10 among critics who gave ratings; the verified audience Popcornmeter stands at 72%.³ IMDb users have rated it 7.3 out of 10 from about 2,600 votes.⁵

Critical response. Reviews were mixed. Reviewing the first season, the Times of India awarded it 2.5 out of 5 and observed that while the series is well intentioned, its focus wanders and loses direction in the same way its teenage heroes' does.¹⁰ The Indian Express titled its review "On a slow wicket" while crediting the series with capturing the obsession with the sport in modern-day India.¹¹ A Scroll.in review highlighted the performances of Mohammad Samad and Rajesh Tailang as lifting the series, opening with young Manju's declaration, "I don't even like cricket."¹² The Review Geek called the show a missed opportunity, praising its themes of sacrifice, familial pressure, and teamwork but criticizing the short episode length and unresolved ending.¹³

Novel and series compared

A 2023 academic study of the adaptation found that the series omits or changes certain events for dramatic effect, producing a faster-paced story than the novel, and that plot points, characters, or themes are changed or emphasized differently to fit the medium and appeal to a wide audience. The novel, by contrast, offers a deeper dive into the characters' inner thoughts and feelings, with pacing that gives readers time to understand the intricacies of the people and their surroundings.¹⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2003 to 2020

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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