PAK vs WI: Why was West Indies vice captain Joshua Da Silva dropped for first match after playing 33 consecutive Tests?

The West Indies begin their Test series against Pakistan at the Multan Cricket Stadium today. Both teams announced their playing XIs a day before the match, and some big decisions were made.

Notably, this is the first time West Indies are playing a Test series in Pakistan since 2006. This is another series against one of the top teams in international cricket and the Kraigg Brathwaite-led side already made a big change while announcing the team for the first Test match. They left out vice-captain and wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva from the XI and has been replaced by 27-year-old debutant Amir Jangoo. 

Joshua Da Silva might have had a great start in his Test career but his form of late has not been the best. Da Silva scored two key knocks of 82* and 49 against England last year but in the last nine innings has only been able to score 92 runs at an average of 11.5. Da Silva only averaged 22.25 last season and only has two 50+ scores to his name with only 356 runs in the 18 innings he played in 2024.

Amir Jangoo, on the other hand, had a great start to his international career where he scored a century in his first ODI match against Bangladesh and became the first ODI batter to score a century on debut batting below or at the number four position. He has a decent first-class record as well with 1909 runs in 35 matches at an average of 34.08. He also scored a half-century in the warm-up game against the Shaheens.

Playing XIs for First Test -

Pakistan

Shan Masood (c), Mohammad Huraira, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Sajid Khan, Noman Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Abrar Ahmed.

West Indies

Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Mikyle Louis, Keacy Carty, Kavem Hodge, Alick Athanaze, Justin Greaves, Tevin Imlach, Kevin Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie, Jomel Warrican, Amir Jangoo, Jayden Seales.