India vs West Indies: BCCI Unveils India’s 15-Man Test Squad Led by Shubman Gill

The Indian team management, led by national selector Ajit Agarkar, has announced a 15-man squad for the upcoming 2-Test home series against West Indies, i.e., India vs West Indies. The squad is led by Shubman Gill, and his deputy in this series will be the experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. This would be Team India’s first home Test assignment ever since that humiliating 0-3 drubbing by New Zealand in October-November 2024. The wounds are still fresh, but the hosts will be looking to put up a far better effort from their last home assignment in the purest form of cricket.

Check out the 15-man squad below.

• Shubman Gill (c)
• Ravindra Jadeja (vc)
• Yashasvi Jaiswal
• KL Rahul
• Sai Sudharsan
• Devdutt Padikkal
• Dhruv Jurel (wk)
• Narayan Jagadeesan (wk)
• Nitish Reddy
• Washington Sundar
• Axar Patel
• Kuldeep Yadav
• Jasprit Bumrah
• Mohammed Siraj
• Prasidh Krishna

India vs West Indies: Key Takeaways from the squad

• Ravindra Jadeja promoted as vice-captain for the first time in his illustrious career.
• Rishabh Pant, who was the vice-captain on the tour of England, continues to recover from a right foot fracture that he sustained in the fourth Test of the series in Manchester.
• Dhruv Jurel will be the first choice wicket-keeper in the home series.
• Tamil Nadu’s wicket-keeper batter Narayan Jagadeesan, who was brought into the side for the final England Test as Pant’s injury replacement, is the second wicket-keeper choice in the eleven.
• After a poor outing in England across 4 Test matches, where he could manage only a solitary fifty, Karun Nair has been dropped from the squad. It seems like Nair has played his last game for India.
• His state mate, the southpaw Devdutt Paddikal, has earned a call-up into the Test squad. The youngster recently scored 150 against the touring Australia A in Lucknow.
• Along with Nair, Bengal opening batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has been waiting for his Test debut since 2021, has been dropped from the squad without any robust reason.
• From the two-pace bowling all-rounders, Shardul Thakur and Nitesh Reddy, who boarded the flight to England, only Reddy has managed to keep his place. Shardul has been replaced by spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel, who will be vital in home conditions.
• Mohammed Shami, despite being fit and available for selection, was ignored yet again. This might be a gloomy sign that the new Indian team under Gautam Gambhir has taken a different path.
• Also, one seamer, Akashdeep, has been dropped from the side owing to less seam-friendly conditions at home.
• In spin-friendly conditions, India has opted for four frontline spin bowling options in Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and Kuldeep Yadav.

West Indies already named their squad

The visitors from the Caribbean already announced a 15-man squad led by all-rounder Roston Chase. The team, after their humiliating showing at home against Australia, has enforced quite a few eyebrow-raising changes, with the biggest one being the exclusion of Kraigg Brathwaite. Check out the complete squad below;

• Roston Chase (Captain)
• Jomel Warrican (Vice-Captain)
• Kevlon Anderson
• Alick Athanaze
• John Campbell
• Tagenarine Chanderpaul
• Justin Greaves
• Shai Hope (Wicketkeeper)
• Tevin Imlach
• Alzarri Joseph
• Shamar Joseph
• Brandon King
• Anderson Phillip
• Khary Pierre
• Jayden Seales

This will be Team India’s first assignment with their new jersey sponsors

Team India will be sporting a new sponsor, ‘Apollo Tyres,’ in this two-match Test series. This would be the first instance when the new sponsors will be displayed on the Indian jersey after the exit of the old sponsor, ‘Dream11.’

India will look to dominate the West Indies and solidify their position in the World Test Championship standings. The series also offers a platform for fringe players to stake their claim ahead of tougher assignments in South Africa and Australia.