NEW DELHI: India have dropped top order batter Cheteshwar Pujara for the upcoming two-Test tour of West Indies in July while Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal made the cut after stellar campaigns in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Pujara, a veteran of over 100 tests, was dropped following a poor run of form after the 35-year-old scored only 211 runs in his last six matches with one half-century to his name.

His absence leaves a spot vacant for the likes of Gaikwad or Jaiswal to step into should Shubman Gill continue to open the batting.

Jaiswal, who scored the fastest IPL fifty in 13 balls this season, scored 625 runs during the two-month tournament to finish among the top five run getters while Gaikwad finished with 590 runs.

Gaikwad also made headlines in November when he hammered seven sixes in an over in a first-class match for his team Maharashtra.

Ajinkya Rahane, India’s top scorer in the World Test Championship final loss to Australia, has also retained his place after he returned to the squad for the one-off match at The Oval in London and will be the vice-captain.

The Caribbean tour commences with the first test from July 12-16 in Dominica. The second Test will be played in Trinidad from July 20-24.

India also announced its ODI squad for a three-match series in Barbados and Trinidad while the squad for five T20 matches will be announced at a later date.

Squads:

Test: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), K.S. Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini

ODI: 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, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2023