India vs Windies: BCCI announces 15-man squad for Test series

Team India is all set to lock horns with the Windies in the two-match Test series starting from October 4 in Rajkot. The selectors have announced the 15-man squad for the tussle which is supposed to be one-sided given that the visitors have historically struggled to compete in the sub-continent. Virat Kohli, the regular skipper, is back in the business while Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik have been axed after a poor Test series in England.

Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Siraj have been finally rewarded for their brilliant show in domestic circuit as they have got the maiden Test call-up. The decision to drop Dhawan though is a big one given that he was awarded the Man of the tournament in the Asia Cup. However, his technique against the moving ball was exposed not for the first time in England in the five-match series. Rishabh Pant is the sole wicketkeeper in the squad which means he is in the long-term plans now.

Ishant and Hardik injured

Meanwhile, Ishant Sharma has not recovered from an injury he sustained during the fifth and final Test against England at The Oval. Hardik Pandya is also recovering from the acute lower back injury which ruled him out of the Asia Cup a few days ago. Both of them will key to India’s fortunes in the upcoming Australia tour. Also, the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested after a hectic Asia Cup.

While Bumrah has been playing continuously since the third England Test, Bhuvi played as many as five ODIs in 10 days in the sweltering UAE heat. Even these two bowlers’ workload has to be managed with Australia tour and World Cup approaching.

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (captain), KL 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

[interaction id=”5baf4895b2ce124893d8c20a”]

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.