By Chanakya Ch
The Board for Control Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 15-member squad for a 2-match test series against West-Indies which is scheduled to begin earlier next month. Shubman Gill who impressed cricket enthusiasts with his fiery batting in the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy to continue his role as a captain. The No1 test-all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was named as vice-captain. This is India’s second test series in the new World-Test-Championship cycle after the draw against England in the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy earlier this year.
Karun Nair who waited for a comeback underperformed in the series against England and lost his spot this time. The chief-selector Ajit Agarkar in the press conference said “We expected more from Karun Nair. It can’t be just one innings. Padikkal offers more. We would like to give 15-20 chances to everyone, but it is not possible in these circumstances, Padikkal has been in great form and he was in the team previously,” added Agarkar.
Wicket-keeper Batsman Rishabh Pant missed out after undergoing a surgery due to his toe-fracture in the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy. Dhruv Jurel and N.Jagadeshan were announced in the squad as wicket-keepers. The No.1Test bowler Jasprit Bumrah makes his way into the squad. Akash Deep who was part of the England tour missed out after he got injured.
India’s squad is spin-dominated given their home-conditions. This tour is the second-series out of the six test series in the WTC cycle. India stands third in the WTC table while Australia and Sri Lanka are in first and second place respectively. India will now look to play skill-full cricket and will fight to stay in the top-two of the WTC table.
India’s 15-member squad for West Indies test tour :
Shubman Gill (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-capt), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, N Jagadeesan (wk).