The Indian team is scheduled to play a couple of Test matches at home against the West Indies team and the first game will start from tomorrow at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
Cricket news: The Men in Blue will likely go into the match with three spinners
The Men in Blue did not have a give outing against Joe Root’s men on English soil and would love to turn their fortunes around in the red-ball fixtures at home.
The Indian team captain Virat Kohli has announced the 12-man squad in the pre-match press conference a day ahead and said that India would now follow other international cricket teams like England and Australia who announce their team one day prior.
Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were left out of the squad and in their place KL Rahul and Prithvi Shaw would open the innings for the home side.
18-year-old Shaw was part of the last two Tests against the Three Lions but did not get an opportunity to play and would like to perform well to cement his position ahead of the Australian tour later this year.
Skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are the experienced batsmen in the middle. Rishabh Pant, who was impressive with the bat against England, have to work on his wicket-keeping skills.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will have to perform with the bat along with their spin bowling. While Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will likely be the only pacers, the management might give Mumbai-pacer Shardul Thakur a chance.
Here is the 12-man squad:
Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur