Left-handed debutant Yashashvi Jaiswal will play in the Indian team in the first Test against West Indies starting today.
Rohit Sharma has revealed that Shubman Gill will start at No 3 for the first Test in place of Pujara, who has been dropped at No 3, with Yashaswi Jaiswal to be the opening batsmen. This will be Rohit Sharma’s first Test series under the captaincy overseas since the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in June.
Talking to head coach Rahul Dravid, Shubman Gill has asked him to drop at No. 3, Rohit Sharma said that Dravid is also OK. In 2023, Shubman Gill, who has been in excellent form, will replace Cheteshwar Pujara in the one-down position. The young star, who has been in relentless form since the start of the year, has scored eight centuries in the calendar year, including three in the Indian Premier League. He has previously played for Punjab in the domestic circuit and Gill is no stranger to this 3rd level.
Regarding this, Rohit Sharma said, “To coach Rahul Dravid, he has played all his cricket at No. 3 and no. Shubman Gill said he played at 4 and could do better for the team at 3. And the team needs a left-hander at the start. We try right-left starting combination. Hopefully this will turn out to be a long-term thing. Jaiswal is a left handed player. We hope he does well. We hope that Jaiswal can really own his place for a long time.” said.
Introducing Jaiswal! Yashaswi Jaiswal makes his debut as the Indian team management focuses on left-handed batsmen. The team currently does not have a full-time recognized left-handed batsman. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are heavily relied upon for left-arm batting. Jaiswal is the 306th player to represent India in the Test format and represents the national team alongside legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Zakir Khan from Mumbai.
The match starts at 7:30 PM tonight. Team India (Tentative XI): 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Yashshwi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 KS Bharat, (Wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9. Shardul Thakur , 10 Jaidev Unathkat, 11 Mohammed Siraj
West Indies Team: 1 Craig Brathwaite (Captain), 2 Tagoreine Chanderbal, 3 Ramon Reifer, 4 Jermaine Blackwood, 5 Alik Athanas, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Raheem Cornwall, 8 Joshua De Silva (Vicky), 9. Kimar Roach, 10. Aljari Joseph 11. Shannon Gabriel.
