India Announces Squad for Home Series Against West Indies

Coming off a disappointing test series defeat against England in England a couple of months ago, India is fielding a different squad to take on the visiting West Indies in a two-test-match series that will commence on October 4, 2018. The first test will be played in Rajkot, at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, from the 4th to the 9th of October, while the second test will be played in Hyderabad, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, from the 12th to the 16th.

In a statement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the governing body said, “Taking stock of the recent workload, the selectors have decided to rest Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar. Both Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya were not considered for selection as they are yet to recover from their injuries.” In addition, Shikhar Dhawan will not be playing in this series. Instead, Mayank Agarwal will get a chance to represent the country and make a case for being a more regularly-selected member of the test squad.

The members of the team for the upcoming series are: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-captain), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), K.L. Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur.

This test match series will provide the ideal opportunity to the Indian team to gain some confidence before heading over to Australia later in October, in time for their complete cricketing tour of that nation the following month.