India Squads For West Indies in Tests and ODIs announced by BCCI for the forthcoming West Indies tour starting from 12th July, were released by the BCCI on Friday with some shocking news.The Indian team will play 2 Test matches, 3 ODIs, and 5 T20s International series in the West Indies.
Senior players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami have been dropped from 16 men Test squads while young talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and pacer Mukesh Kumar have been included in India’s Test squad for the first time. Navdeep Saini also got Test call based on his performances in the domestic circuit.
Despite his underwhelming batting display on the recent tour, KS Bharat is expected to keep his spot in the Test team in absence of Rishabh Pant who suffered injuries in an accident.
TEST Squad
Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini
Ajinkya Rahane who was included in the WTC Final after 18 months long gap regained his responsibilities as Vice Captain in Test for WI tour based on his remarkable innings of 89 & 46 against Aussies.
While in ODI, fans were excited to know Sanju Samson returns back making the selection of wicket-keeper tougher for the captain, Rohit Sharma. It’ll be interesting to see who is Captain’s choice. On the other hand, Jaydev Unadkat who didn’t get chance to show his caliber in the WTC Final match against Australia.
Mukesh Kumar got maiden call in both Test and ODI squad for the WI tour.
ODI Squad
Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar
The five T20I matches in the West Indies in August would be revealed “later,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said while announcing the teams on Friday. However, the announcement made no mention of any alterations to the squad.