The Indian selection committee led by MSK Prasad will soon meet to select the Test squad for the two-match series against Windies. The first Test is scheduled to commence on October 4 in Rajkot only six days after India play the final of the ongoing Asia Cup. During England series, there were talks of inclusion of Rohit Sharma in the squad, however, he is set to be ignored once again for the upcoming series.
According to the reports in the Indian Express, the selectors aren’t inclined to the selection of Rohit in the squad who is currently leading the Men in Blue in the Asia Cup. He played his last Test in January against South Africa and failed miserably in demanding conditions. He might have to contend with the limited-overs batting for the rest of his career now. Even Shikhar Dhawan is expected to be dropped and it seems they will pick the squad with the Australia tour in mind. It will also be interesting to see if the likes of Ravi Ashwin and Ishant Sharma attain complete fitness as both of them were injured during the fifth Test against England.
There was never a doubt about Rohit is a proven match-winner in the limited-overs cricket as he smashed a couple of half-centuries and a century in the ongoing Asia Cup. He was rested against Afghanistan and will be fresh again now to lead Team India in the final against Bangladesh on Friday.
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The reports also suggested that Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal will be included in the squad for the Windies series. Shaw was in the squad in England as well but Team India gave more opportunities to Dhawan only for him to fail. However, Shikhar managed to score only 162 runs in eight innings at a mediocre average of 20.25 in England.
Shaw seems to be making his Test debut for the first Test as he has been making truck-load of runs in the domestic circuit and for India A side as well. KL Rahul will get another chance it seems after the century he smashed at The Oval in the last Test. However, it still remains to be seen if there is a place for Mayank in the team with Shaw getting a nod over him at the top of the order.
Both Shaw and Agarwal have been selected in the Board President’s XI squad which will play a two-day practice game against the touring side starting from Saturday. Hanuma Vihari is also the part of the team and in all likelihood, he will keep his place in the playing XI also after scoring a half-century on debut.
