After a short break, Indian skipper Virat Kohli is returning to the international circuit as he will lead the Indian cricket team in the upcoming home Test series against Windies, starting on October 4.
The touring side Windies will kick-off their international cricket tour in India through the two-match Test series that will be held in this October at Rajkot (October 4-8) and Hyderabad (October 12-16).
Indian skipper Virat Kohli is returning to the Test squad, who was rested during the recent Asia Cup 2018 in UAE that India won for the record seventh time in the tournament history. Also, the young wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been selected as the main wicketkeeper of the team, who recently made his Test debut during India’s tour of England. On the other hand, another wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been dropped from the Test squad.
Meanwhile, the in-form top-order batsman Mayank Agarwal and the in-form right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj have earned their maiden Test call-up. It is the maiden international call-up for Mayank Agarwal while Siraj already made his debut in T20I.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested in the upcoming home Test series, while Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya both will miss the upcoming Test series due to they haven’t recovered from their injuries yet.
According to a BCCI statement, “Taking stock of the recent workload, the selectors have decided to rest Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Both Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya were not considered for selection as they are yet to recover from their injuries.”
Indian full squad for the upcoming home two-match Test series against Windies: Virat Kohli (capt), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur.
Two-match Test series schedule during Windies tour of India 2018/19
October 4-8: First Test – Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Rajkot)
October 12-16: Second Test –Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (Hyderabad)
