The national selectors led by chairman M S K Prasad have announced the Indian Test team for Two Tests against The West Indies .
After being rested for the Asia Cup superstar and skipper Virat Kohli returns to the side . Ajinkya Rahane despite an ordinary Test series in England not only retains his place in the side but also remains Virat’s deputy . Cheteshwar Pujara too holds on to his place despite a below par England series .
The selectors have decided to bring in changes in the worrying slot – opening. Both Shikhar Dhawan and urali Viajy have be dropped for their failures in England Tests. 18 year- old from Mumbai Prithvi Shaw and Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal , who has been prolific in the domestic scene will make their Test debuts. The team management will now have to take call as to who among them will go out to open with K L Rahul. Rahul holds his place after his super last Test ton at Oval. So does debutant Hanuma Vihari.
Karun Nair gets dropped after being overlooked in England despite been with the team for two months. Adding to his woes is Vihari getting a chance ahead of him. It makes one wonder what this ill- treatment will have on his career.
Dinesh Karthik has been dropped. He flopped with e bat in the fist two Tests and Pant stepping in his place. Fast rising wicket- keeper batsman Rishabh Pant is now the first choice keeper. Pant impressed all with his fine maiden ton at Oval. And is now widely tipped to succeed legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni soon.
Ishant Sharma , Hardik Pandya have not been included to their injuries. The duo should be ready for th Australia series later this year. there is rest for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah . In their absence Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav will be the pace attack along with young Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur. Ravichandran Ashwin has recovered from his injury.
India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), K L Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur.
The Schedule of the Series :
The first Test match between India and West Indies will be played from October 04-08, 2018, at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot. This will be followed by second Test match, from October 12-16, 2018, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, located in Hyderabad.
After Test series both teams will face each other in the five ODI matches scheduled between October 21, 2018, to November 01 2018.
Guwahati – first ODI on October 21. 2nd ODI – Indore October 24. 3rd third ODI Pune October 27, 4th ODI Mumbai October 29, and the fifth at November 1 at Greenfield International Stadium . Thiruvananthapuram. It will host it’s maiden ODI
Before wrapping up the tour both will clash in the three T20 International matches between between 4 and 11 November 2018 in Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai respectively with Lucknow set for it’s international debut on November 6.
