Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
The Men in Blue are going to the Caribbean for a month-long tour consisting of two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is. The series will begin with the first Test match on July 12.
BCCI announced the squad for the red ball format on Friday, in which Umesh Yadav has been replaced by Mukesh Kumar. While Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped to give a chance to Yashasvi Jaiswal. Ruturaj Gaikwad has also been included for the middle order. Mohammed Shami has also been rested as Navdeep Saini replaces him.
The sixteen-member team for Tests is led by Rohit Sharma and includes –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.
The first test match will be played from July 12 to July 16 at the Windsor Park, Dominica. The match will start at 7:30 pm IST. The second test match will be played at the Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad from July 20 to July 24. Starting time will be 7:30 pm IST.
The selectors for the Indian team decided to bring back Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad for the 50-over format. Ruturaj Gaikwad had an excellent IPL season as he helped Chennai Super Kings to clinch their record fifth title.
BCCI also gave Mukesh Kumar a chance as he might be making his limited overs debut on this tour. Even though he is yet to play, he’s had quite a few greats to learn from this IPL season including Mustafizur Rahman, Ishant Sharma and Anrich Nortje.
The 17-member squad for the ODIs against West Indies is: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.
Schedule for the ODIs:- First ODI on July 27 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados from 7 pm IST Second ODI on July 29 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados from 7 pm IST Third ODI on August 1 at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad from 7 pm IST
India will also play five T20 matches in the last leg of the tour, but the BCCI is yet to announce the squad for that.