India's possible Test squad to face West Indies

After a gruelling Test series against England, which was won by the hosts 4-1, the Indian Test team will be in action in less than two weeks' time as they host West Indies in a two-match series.

The first of the two matches will be played in Rajkot from October 4 while the series will move on to Hyderabad for the second Test that gets underway on October 12. Following this series, India will tour Australia for a long tour and will be playing five Tests down under.

Following the debacle in England and the upcoming Australian tour in mind, one can expect the selectors to make a few changes to the Test squad. Let us take a look at how the Indian Test squad to face West Indies will look like.

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Openers

KL Rahul

Indian opening trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul had a terrible tour of England as they failed almost every single time they took the field in the five matches. Barring KL Rahul, who scored 149 in the last innings of the tour, the openers failed to score a single fifty throughout the tournament.

Murali Vijay was dropped following his failure in the first two matches and was sent back home after the third Test and was replaced by youngster Prithvi Shaw in the squad. Although Prithvi didn't get to play a single game in England, he could be in line to open the batting with Rahul in the upcoming series against West Indies.

Shaw has been scoring runs heavily in the domestic circuit and has been very consistent with the bat whenever he walks out to the middle. With an eye on the Australian tour that will get underway later this year and beyond that, the selectors should give the nod to Prithvi in the West Indies so that he gets some experience before touring down under.

The third opener's place could be a toss-up between Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal. In spite of scoring three 50+ innings for Essex, Vijay might not be considered. It is high time the selectors move on from Dhawan and reward the consistent Mayank Agarwal with a place in the national side.

Probable picks: KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.

Middle order

Captain Ajinkya Rahane?

Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara is likely to bat at number 3 and Ajinkya Rahane will bat at number 5. Since the series is taking place in India, the team management might decide to go in with six frontline batsmen and Hanuma Vihari, who did well on debut in the fifth Test against the Poms might retain his place in the XI.

Skipper Virat Kohli is recovering from a back injury and has already been rested from the ongoing Asia Cup. With the tour of Australia and more important fixtures coming up, it won't be a surprise if he is rested for the two-match Test series as well.

In his absence, Karun Nair is likely to bat at number 4 while Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side. Shreyas Iyer could be in consideration as the backup batsman.

Probable picks: Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer

Wicketkeeper and all-rounders

Rishabh Pant

Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant toured England as the wicketkeeper-batsmen with Karthik given the first preference. He was replaced by Pant mid-way through the series. The way Pant batted in the fifth Test, he is likely to don the gloves in the series against West Indies.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya injured his back in the ongoing Asia Cup and is likely to be rested for the Test series against West Indies. In his place, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin will be named in the side as all-rounders. Both are capable of scoring runs down the order and with the ball, they are proven match-winners on their own, especially at home.

Probable picks: Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja

Spinner

Kuldeep Yadav

In all likelihood, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be included in the XI as the frontline spinners. A few names will be fighting against each other for the third spinner's role in the squad. The likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Jalaj Saxena, Saurabh Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem etc. are expected to be in the fray but the selectors are likely to name Kuldeep Yadav as the third spinner.

Kuldeep has been in the Test side for a while now and is too good to be the third spinner of the side. But, with Jadeja and Ashwin playing in the XI, it is very hard for any bowler to get into the team ahead of them.

Probable pick: Kuldeep Yadav

Fast bowler

Ishant Sharma

Indian fast bowlers were one of the biggest success stories from the tour of England. Spearheaded by Ishant Sharma, the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav in the first Test, did exceedingly well in the series.

But, not all of them will be picked for a Test series at home. Bumrah is likely to be rested along with his partner-in-crime in limited-overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar keeping the tour of Australia in mind.

With that, Ishant, Shami and Umesh are likely to named in the squad as three pacers and two of them will make it to the playing XI.

Probable picks: Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami.