Sourav Ganguly 'surprised' at Rohit Sharma's exclusion from West Indies Tests

Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly has expressed surprise over the exclusion of Rohit Sharma from the Indian team for the test series against West Indies. 

BCCI announced the 15-member squad for the two-match series on Saturday. 

Rohit Sharma had recently led India to the Asia Cup title in the absence of Virat Kohli. Kohli will resume his duties as skipper against West Indies despite some reports of a niggle in his wrist. 

Shikhar Dhawan and Karun Nair were dropped from the side that played England earlier this month. Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Siraj got their maiden Test call-up while Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari were retained in the 15-member squad. 

After the list was announced on Saturday, a disappointed Ganguly took to Twitter and wrote, "Great win Rohit and the team @ImRo45 ..u were exceptional...I get surprised every time I don’t see ur name in the test team ..it’s not far away .."

Great win Rohit and the team @ImRo45 ..u were exceptional...I get surprised every time I don’t see ur name in the test team ..it’s not far away ..

— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) September 29, 2018

Rohit was also not included in Indian team that lost the five-Test series against England 4-1 last month. 

While Rohit has scored just 1479 runs in the 25 Test matches with an average of 39.97, he has been inconsistent in his performances. 

Dhawan's exclusion means that India will have either have Mayank Agarwal or Prithvi Shaw open the innings. Dhawan, who was the player of the series in Asia Cup, had performed poorly in England. 

Meanwhile, India's two main pace bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the series. This means Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will lead the Indian pace attack with Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj. 

Indian team for the West Indies test series 

Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur