India has dropped Shikhar Dhawan and Karun Nair from the squad set to compete against West Indies in a two-game Test series starting on October 4. This implies that India will test their fifth opening combination this year, with either Mayank Agarwal or Prithvi Shaw making their Test debut alongside KL Rahul in Rajkot next week.
Virat Kohli will resume his captaincy for India after a three-week break. He will have to manage without many of the team’s preferred bowlers as Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested. Additionally, Ishant Sharma, who sustained an ankle injury during the Oval Test earlier this month, and Hardik Pandya, who suffered back spasms in the Asia Cup, were not considered for selection. In their absence, the 24-year-old seamer Mohammed Siraj was called up to the Test side for the first time. The Hyderabad native has been in exceptional form, picking up 40 wickets in 9 first-class innings, including an 11-wicket haul against Australia A.
Dhawan’s exclusion follows a disappointing series in England, where he only managed a top score of 44 in eight innings. Meanwhile, Nair did not get to play in any of the 5 Tests and seems to have lost out in competition with reserve batsman Hanuma Vihari.
With India in need of an opener, Agarwal has finally been rewarded for his prolific 2017-18 season, during which he scored 2253 runs in 36 innings across formats. The 27-year-old from Karnataka was also a consistent performer for the A team, both on tour in England and at home, where he played against Australia A and South Africa A. He also scored 90 runs off 111 deliveries against the West Indians in the warm-up game earlier on Saturday.
R Ashwin, who recently struggled with a hip injury, will spearhead India’s spin attack once again, alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Shardul Thakur complete the fast-bowling resources. Ajinkya Rahane, who has only two half-centuries in his last ten innings, remains vice-captain, while Rishabh Pant, who became the first Indian wicketkeeper to score 100 in England, will continue as the wicketkeeper.
