Possible end of road for Pujara, India pick Jaiswal & Gaikwad for West Indies Tests

New Delhi, PTI

The national selection panel on Friday effectively brought curtains down on veteran Cheteshwar Pujara’s international career by dropping him from C two-Test series against the West Indies, starting July 12.

Inclusion of powerhouse domestic performers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the 16-member squad is a clear indication that the fourmember panel, headed by Shiv Sunder Das, is now looking at the next twoyear World Test Championship cycle (2023-2025).

That Pujara will be dropped and skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to lead the Test side in the Caribbean was reported by the PTI recently. The other significant development was Ajinkya Rahane’s re-appointment as the vice-captain of the Test side just after making an international comeback in the previous game.

While Mohammed Shami has been given complete rest from both Tests and ODIs after nearly three months of hectic competitive cricket, the selectors have indeed started the phasing out process by dropping the profligate Umesh Yadav and bringing in the consistent Kolkata seamer Mukesh Kumar in the main squad.

Navdeep Saini, whose career had been on a freefall since the historic tour of Australia, also gets a chance for resurrection as his hit-the-deck (140 clicks) bowling might be effective on the slow Caribbean tracks.

All three new entrants -- Jaiswal, Gaikwad and Mukesh -- were the standby players for the WTC final.

They have been very consistent in domestic cricket over past few seasons.

India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (C), 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 and Navdeep Saini.

India’s ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.