Consistent performances over the last one year have finally reaped rewards for opener Mayank Agarwal who has been named in the 15-man squad for the two-match Test series against the West Indies on Saturday.
Mohammad Siraj also finds a place in the squad due to his good performances for India A.
Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay nonetheless have faced the axe. Both the openers had a torrid time during the tour of England and couldn’t make any real impact in any of the matches. Prithvi Shaw, who was earlier named in the squad for the last two Test matches in England has also been included as the third opener in the squad alongside Agarwal and KL Rahul, whose defiant batting in the last Test match helped him retain his spot in the team.
Rishabh Pant, who too made his debut in England has been retained in the squad after he put up a powerful batting display with Rahul in the last Test match n England, scoring his maiden hundred in the process.
In the bowling department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested by the board. Ravichandran Ashwin also doesn’t feature in the squad.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who sustained a back injury in the recently concluded Asia Cup has also been rested for the Test series alongside senior paceman Ishant Sharma. The BCCI, in a release, stated that both Pandya and Sharma are yet to make recoveries.
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
Image credit-Times Now Hindi