Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from India's squad for their two-match Test series against the West Indies in Caribbean. The 16-man squad sees the inclusion of uncapped Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mukesh Kumar for what will be India's first assignment in the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle. Fast bowler Navdeep Saini has also made a comeback to the squad, while Umesh Yadav has been left out.
Ajinkya Rahane, who was India's highest scorer at The Oval, has kept his place after making a comeback following a 15-month absence from the Test team. He has also been named vice-captain. The rest of the squad, led by Rohit Sharma, includes most of the players selected for the WTC final.
Saini, meanwhile, has not played a Test since the famous victory at the Gabba in 2021.Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are all still recovering from surgery for various injuries, and with Rishabh Pant undergoing rehab after surviving a car crash last December, KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan have been picked as India's wicketkeepers in the Caribbean. Bharat has played all five Tests since Pant's injury, but has scored just 129 runs at an average of 18.42.
India's Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
India's ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.
