Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
Led by Rohit Sharma, team India starts its month-long tour of West Indies on Wednesday with the first of two test matches. This will also start India’s 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) campaign after their defeat in the final of WTC 2021-23.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed on Tuesday to ICC that Shubman Gill will play at 3rd, clearing the way for 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal. The left-hander Jaiswal is now to set to open in its international Test debut.
Rohit Sharma also confirmed the bowling combination for 1st Test as he said that there will be 2 spinners and 3 pacers. So, the expected Playing XI for India is: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar
The expected Playing XI for Kraigg Brathwaite-led West Indies is: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel
For India, key players will be skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubhman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja. While the West Indies will depend on their skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Alick Athanaze and Joshua Da Silva
The first Test match of the tour will be played at Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica. The weather is expected to be typical Caribbean around 30 degrees and with humidity in upwards of 70%. The match will begin at 19:30 PM IST on Wednesday.
The pitch at Windsor Park in Dominica is expected to provide some lateral movement for the pacers on Day 1. On Day 2 and 3 the pitch is expected to support batsmen more as it might slow down as the game progresses. The spinners will play a crucial role in deciding the winner of the match in the last two days. Average first innings score at Windsor Park is 250-270.
The live telecast of India’s tour of the West Indies will be aired on DD Sports. While live streaming will be available on Jio Cinema for free.
India has played 98 Test Matches against West Indies out of which 30 were won by the latter. India has won 22 matches and the remaining 46 matches ended as a draw. In the Caribbean itself, the teams have played 51 matches out of which India has won 9, West Indies has won 16 matches and 26 matches ended in draws.