The Indian teams for the tour of West Indies have finally been announced. As expected there have been some really good changes to both the ODI and T20I squads. Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey both make a comeback to the limited-overs side. Both have had brilliant ODI series with the India A team in West Indies and deserve a chance to make a comeback.
The biggest disappointment for sure is the axing of Mayank Agarwal. He was drafted into the World Cup squad as a replacement for the injured Vijay Shankar and did not get a game. He now has been dropped without a single game. The other omission is the young Shubman Gill who also has had a good ODI series with the A team in the current series in West Indies. The return of Shikhar Dhawan means that he immediately returns to the top of the order along with Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli whose ODI captaincy was rumored to have been threatened by Rohit Sharma returns to captain the side for this tour.
Rishabh Pant is the only keeper in the squad in the absence of MS Dhoni. The selectors have decided to not include a second keeper in both the ODI and T20I squads. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been rested which means the young and talented Navdeep Saini gets a chance to impress in this series. Khaleel Ahmed who is also having a good time with the A team in the Caribbean also makes a comeback into the squad.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami bit have been retained for this series. Shami who has been playing cricket non-stop for a while now could have been rested as well for another young pacer in the limited-overs squad. Selection of someone like Avesh Khan or Prasidh Krishna could have been a better choice for this tour. The spin department remains the same as seen in the world cup in the ODI team. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been retained along with Ravindra Jadeja as the all-rounder. It is an interesting conundrum for the selectors though as both the wrist spinners struggled through the world cup and someone like Shreyas Gopal or Rahul Chahar could have been a good inclusion in the ODI squad as well. Shreyas Gopal who had a brilliant IPL with the ball could have been included in both the squads. He is a very good lower-order batter as well.
The T20I squad sees the return of Washington Sundar as the all-rounder and Krunal Pandya makes a comeback as well. The batting remains the same in both the formats. The test squad does not have any major surprises and js similar to the one which won the historic series in Australia earlier this year. The only change being the return of Wriddhiman Saha as the wicketkeeper.
There have been some really good selections and the selectors need to be commended for the same but again this could have been surely better. Even though some really good players have been picked, there are a couple of names who could have been given a go as well. The senior players deciding not to take rest post the world cup might have played a part in the same as well.
The squads for all the three formats look really good and it does seem like the Indian team does want to move away from the disappointment of the World Cup really soon. This tour does mark the beginning for the future and the hope is that the next four years will be utilized to develop a really good pool of players who will be ready for the challenge come 2023.
Indian Squads In All Formats | India Tour Of West Indies:
ODI Squad:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini
T20I Squad:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini
Test squad:
Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK) Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav
| India’s Tour of West Indies 2019 | |||
| Sl.No | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 3rd August | 1st T20 | Fort Lauderhill |
| 2 | 4th August | 2nd T20 | Fort Lauderhill |
| 3 | 6th August | 3rd T20 | Guyana |
| 4 | 8th August | 1st ODI | Guyana |
| 5 | 11th August | 2nd ODI | Trinidad |
| 6 | 14th August | 3rd ODI | Trinidad |
| 7 | 22nd Aug-26th Aug | 1st Test | Antigua |
| 8 | 30th Aug-3rd Sep | 2nd Test | Antigua |
India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 21, 2019
India’s squad for 2 Tests: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, C Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK) Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 21, 2019
India’s squad for 3 T20Is: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 21, 2019
