Rajkot: Scarred by yet another overseas debacle, India will once again seek home comfort when they take on an inexperienced West Indies in a two-Test series starting here Thursday, aiming to get their combinations in right order before the gruelling assignment in Australia.
India have endured series losses in South Africa and England over the last nine months but have still managed to remain the top-ranked side in the longest format.
A comprehensive beating of the West Indies at this stage can only serve as a morale-booster to the Virat Kohli-led side which faces another stern test with the Australia tour beginning late November.
There is not much to gain for India against the eighth-ranked West Indies who, on their part, will be trying their best to make an impression in one of the toughest places to tour and against a side which they have not beaten since 2002.
The Indian team was criticised for making too many changes in England and as it panned out, openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan lost their place in the side. Even Karun Nair, who warmed the bench in England, was ignored for the West Indies, triggering an intense selection debate.
What is certain is that a brand new opening combination will be tried in the next couple of games with KL Rahul opening with exciting uncapped talent Prithvi Shaw. But even if the move works, it will not be a decisive indicator of the partnership working in Australia given the drastic difference in batting conditions.
However, the series provides a good opportunity to Shaw and another uncapped player Mayank Agarwal, who had been knocking on the door for quite some time.
India don’t have a full strength team, with some of the key players – like Dhawan, Vijay, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya – are missing, but still capable of dominating an inexperienced West Indies. There is abundance of talent in the Caribbean outfit too but it lacks the experience required to be competitive in India.
Only five players in the 15-man squad have played a Test in India and to make matters worse, one among them – lead pacer Kemar Roach — will be missing the series-opener due to the death of his grandmother back in Barbados. The others who have played on the Indian soil are Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kieran Powell and Shannon Gabriel.
In fact, the West Indies will be playing a Test in India for the first time since November 2013 when they had become part of Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series.
Final 12 announced
Rajkot: Teenage prodigy Prithvi Shaw is set to open alongside KL Rahul in the first Test against the West Indies after India Wednesday started the practice of naming their final 12 before the start of every game. The move of naming the final 12 ahead of the game has more or less settled the debate on the playing eleven. 12-man squad: KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur (12th man).