The BCCI has named a 16-member Test squad for the upcoming two-match series against West Indies. The cricket board made some big changes in the Test squad following India’s defeat in World Test Championship Final for the second straight time. The selection committee chose the young batters like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal over Cheteshwar Pujara to indicate that India are slowly entering the transition phase in the Test set-up.
Gaikwad was shortlisted as the stand-by player for WTC Final but he took his name back due to his marriage while he was replaced by Jaiswal who took the flight to London. The southpaw spent time with the Indian team in the WTC Final following his scintillating show in IPL 2023 for Rajasthan Royals.
The upcoming two-match series is going to be a big opportunity for the duo as one of them will surely get a place in the XI after Pujara’s commission from the squad.
The cricket fans on Twitter were elated to see the youngsters finally getting their call-ups in the Test squad.
When talent meets opportunityThese 2 guys are a proper example of this @IPL thank you for giving us such good emerging talents
The whole world is jealous of our ipl and even few of our own guys are not happy with the success of ipl
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal pic.twitter.com/th0n8huQ3Y
— Ansh Thakur (@imthakuransh) June 23, 2023
How times change !Pujara Dropped and Ajinkya is now the Vice Captain …Ruturaj gets his maiden Test Call !#TeamIndia https://t.co/ynGUAL0qc3
— Mudit (@MuditHastir) June 23, 2023
Jaiswal in First-class cricket:Innings - 26Runs - 1845Average - 80.21
21-years-old, work so hard in domestics, continued his good run for India A and got the deserving call into the Test team in the new cycle. pic.twitter.com/XqsVMzWqnL
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 23, 2023
Excited to see the Indian squads for the West Indies Tests and ODI series! Looking forward to watching Rohit Sharma as captain and seeing the new talent like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad in action. Let’s go Team India!— ✨ BRIANA ORN (@brianaorn) June 23, 2023
Maiden test call for Yashasvi Jaiswal.It time to start new era. pic.twitter.com/D3ymf1s5s4— Aman Awasthi (@AwasiAman17) June 23, 2023
BREAKING : Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal earned their maiden test call up for Indian team.Time for a new beginning ✨ pic.twitter.com/bIed0xZgsL
— ︎︎™ ❤️ (@MSDianMrigu) June 23, 2023
Jaiswal has a sensational batting record in first-class cricket as he amassed 1845 runs in 15 matches at a sublime average of 80.21 which includes 9 centuries. While Gaikwad has played 28 First Class matches in which he scored 1941 runs at an average of 42.19.
Meanwhile, Windsor Park in Dominica will host the first Test match from July 12-16, followed by the second Test to be played from July 20-24 at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. The second Test will also mark the 100th Test match played between India and West Indies.
India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.