12 July,2023 09:01 AM IST | Trinidad | mid-day online correspondent
Team India (Pic: AFP)
India will kick off its ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 campaign with a two-Test series against West Indies, with the first Test from Wednesday in Dominica. While India will be playing their first Test after their WTC Final loss against Australia, West Indies are coming off a shocking elimination from the ODI World Cup Qualifiers. There are plenty of challenges for both sides and they will be eager to prove themselves in the beginning phase of the next WTC cycle.
While another WTC final defeat will hurt the team, there was a strong feeling that the Shiv Sunder Das-led selection committee and head coach Rahul Dravid will be looking at new options, which starts with the series in the Caribbean.
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Rohit Sharma on Tuesday confirmed that young Yashasvi Jaiswal will make his debut and play as an opener in the first Test of the two-match series against West Indies. Jaiswal has played only 15 first-class matches but averages over 80 in those, with nine centuries and a highest score of 265. Addressing the pre-match press conference, the India captain mentioned that Shubman Gill will go down to No.3 to fill the spot vacated by Cheteshwar Pujara, who wasn't considered for this tour.
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"Gill will play at No.3 because Gill himself wants to play at number 3. He discussed with Rahul (Dravid) that I have played all my cricket at 3 and 4. I think I can do better for my team if I bat at number 3. And it is good for us too because it becomes an opening combination of left and right," said Rohit on the eve of the first Test.
The 36-year-old Sharma also confirmed that India are also set to play two spinners in the first Test. Although he did not confirm who the spinners were, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are primed to take the two spots with Axar Patel the other spinner in the squad.
Captain: Rohit Sharma
Vice-captain: Kemar Roach
Wicket-keeper: Joshua Da Silva
Batters: Kraigg Brathwaite, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma
All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jason Holder
Bowlers: Mohammed Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat, Kemar Roach
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Jermaine Blackwood, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mukesh Kumar, Axar Patel, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (C), Jermaine Blackwood (VC), Joshua Da Silva (WK), Alick Athanaze, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Jomel Warrican
