Cheteshwar Pujara Dropped, Maiden Call-ups For Jaiswal, Gaikwad as India Make Big Changes in Test Squad For West Indies Tour

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced the squad for Test squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against West Indies. After the defeat in World Test Championship Final, India made big changes in their Test set-up as Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav have been dropped from the side. While youngsters like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal got their maiden Test call-up in the side.

Big changes were expected after the crushing defeat in the WTC final against Australia as the underperforming Cheteshwar Pujara was committed from the squad. While the senior pacers Shami and Umesh also failed to find their places in the 16-member Test squad.

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Jaiswal, who was on standby for the WTC final, got his maiden Test call-up alongside Gaikwad who missed the flight to London due to his marriage earlier this month.

Ajinkya Rahane, who made a solid comeback in the Test with a 89-run knock in the WTC final, has been named Rohit Sharma’s deputy for the Test team. Earlier, India didn’t name the vice-captain of the Test side in the last two Tests against Australia in Border-Gavaskar Trophy and in the WTC Final at the Oval.

While star batters Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli also retained their places with Rohit Sharma leading the charge of the side.

KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan are picked as the wicketkeeper batters, while India chose three spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in the squad.

In the absence of Shami, Mohammed Siraj is expected to lead the pace unit comprises of Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini.

TEST Squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.