WI vs IND 2023: 3 players who deserved to be in India's Test squad

2. Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav had a quiet outing in the first innings of the WTC 2021-23 Final against Australia. However, he made amends with two key wickets in the second innings, reminding the world what he is capable of. Yadav dismissed the dangerous Usman Khawaja and then came back to send Marnus Labuschagne back. Notably, he was well set at the crease batting at 41 off 126 deliveries at the time of dismissal. 

With Mohammed Shami rested, the pace bowling lineup selected for the two Tests only has Mohammed Siraj as an experienced pacer in the attack. Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini are fairly inexperienced while Jaydev Unadkat has had an inconsistent international career.

Yadav is someone with much more experience with the national team across formats and he also performed well in the recent outings against Australia and Bangladesh. Resting Shami against the West Indies is understandable but Yadav is the kind of bowler a team would want in their attack. Therefore, adding another experienced candidate in the pace contingent would have been ideal.