India vs West Indies: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday (June 23) announced Indian squads for two Tests and three-match One-Day-Internationals (ODIs) against West Indies, starting from July 12. India will also play a five-match T20 International series during Windies tour, the squad for which will be announced in coming weeks. The 2023 WTC Final debacle caused no damage to Rohit Sharma's career as he remains captain of India's Test team and will lead in ODIs as well. Ajinkya Rahane, the comeback man, gets picked as Rohit's deput for both ODIs and Tests.
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As per the official announcement, Ruturaj Gaikwad gets a maiden call up in both Test and ODI squads. India management once again reposed faith in KS Bharat for Tests. Yashasvi Jaiswal handed his maiden Test call-up, along with Mukesh Kumar. Jaydev Unadkat (ODI), Navdeep Saini (Test) make their comebacks. Ishan Kishan, who is yet to make his Test debut, has been selected in both ODI and Test teams. Senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been included in the Test team. Sanju Samson and Jaydev Unadkat have been included in India's ODI squad.
Let's have a look at some notable exclusions from ODI, Test squads
Senior players Umesh Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara are two of the biggest names missing from India's Test team. Team India management's decision to pick Umesh over off-spinner Ravicandran Ashwin met with a lot of heat, while Cheteshwar Pujara was out of form at WTC Final. Young pacer Navdeep Saini gets a call-up and veteran Mohammed Shami has been rested.
Squads:
India’s ODI Squad: 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.
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.