After thumping the West Indies in the limited-overs series, Virat Kohli and his boys are all set to begin their journey in the ICC World Test Championship on Thursday. Team India will lock horns with the Caribbean men in the first Test of the 2-match series at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua.
The visitors will look to reinforce their position at the top of the standings and will bank on their experience to outclass the hosts who will be low on confidence following the thrashing they received in the T20 and ODI series.
This match is going to be a benchmark for the Indian skipper as he is a win away from Mahendra Singh Dhoni's record of most victories as Indian Test captain.
Toss Update:
West Indies skipper Jason Holder has won the toss and elected to field first. Uncapped player Shamarh Brooks makes his Test debut.
"We will field first. Some moisture in the wicket and we want to take advantage. We have had some solid preparations and are looking forward to this. Every series is a new series, need to do our best," said Holder.
On the other hand, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul will be opening for India. Rohit Sharma is not in the Playing XI along with R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav are not playing today.
"We were batting first anyway, look to put runs on the board and then attack with the ball. We know what to do in the middle, need to play consistent good cricket, no room for complacency," said Virat Kohli.
Here are the playing XIs:
India: Mayank Agarwal, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Shai Hope(w), Shamarh Brooks, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Jason Holder(c), Miguel Cummins, Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach