Indian test squad for WI series announced

The Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) selectors on Saturday announced the squad for the upcoming two-match test series against West Indies (WI) starting October 4 in Rajkot.

Even after an impressive outing in the recently concluded Asia Cup, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan was dropped from the team following his disastrous performance in red ball cricket recently against England.

Mayank Agarwal, who has been in the forefront to make a cut into the national team, was finally given due justice for his recent impressive performance as he got a maiden call up into the squad for the WI series.

Agarwal was in the frame for quite some time now after his sensational performances in the last one year or so. The Karnataka batsman scored a record-breaking 2141 runs across formats in the last season.  He struck five centuries in the Ranji Trophy, three half-centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and three hundreds and four fifties while leading Karnataka to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title.

Another new face in the team will be Hyderabadi pacer Mohammad Siraj, who has been given a maiden call in the test squad a year after making his debut in white ball cricket.

Siraj earned the call after impressing for India A. He recently took 8 for 59 in an innings against Australia. It was his third five-wicket haul in his last four first-class innings. Since his average outing in the Indian Premier League, he took a staggering 37 wickets in just 8 innings for India A.

Under-19 world cup winning captain Prithvi Shaw, who was recently drafted into the team for the last two test matches against England, is all set to make his debut as the opening partner for KL Rahul in the series.

Indian pace spearheads, Bhuveneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, has been rested before the all important India's tour of Australia from November this year.

Rest of the team was as expected with Dinesh Karthik and all-rounder Hardik Pandya shown the door while young wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant keep his place in the squad after his brilliant century in the last test of the England series.

SQUAD: Virat Kohli (Captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur