Pujara dropped for West Indies Tests; Ruturaj, Yashasvi called up

Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from India's squad for their two-match Test series against the West Indies in the 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.

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.

As was reported by Cricbuzz, the tenability of Pujara's place in the side was set to be a matter of debate among the selectors. India's longstanding No.3, now 35 years old, had scored only one century in 52 innings (28 Tests) since 2020 at an average of only 29.69. While he registered 11 half-centuries, his average further drops to 26.31 when his scores of 90 and 102* in the Chittagong Test in December 2022 are excluded.

This is the second time in two years that Pujara has been dropped, the last one coming during the home series against Sri Lanka in 2022. But thanks to a mountain of runs in the county circuit, Pujara was back in the India fold for the fifth and final Test against England at Edgbaston and managed to hold on until now.

Gaikwad, a likely replacement for Pujara and who plays domestically for Maharashtra, was a back-up for the WTC final before he missed out on the trip owing to personal reasons. He was replaced by Mumbai's Jaiswal, whose call-up then and inclusion now is a recognition for a bumper recent first-class season, during which he scored 1169 runs across nine games, including five hundreds. Alongside Gaikwad, Jaiswal remains a potential No.3 candidate for India.

While Virat Kohli manages to hold onto his place despite ordinary returns in the last WTC cycle, Ajinkya Rahane returns to the squad as the vice-captain of the side, having made quite an impression in the WTC final against Australia at The Oval. Interestingly, Rahane had been another big name dropped for the home Test series against Sri Lanka last year, and his selection for the WTC final was only mandated out of injuries to regular players.

Mohammed Shami has rightfully been rested from both Tests and the ODIs, having had back-to-back assignments of IPL, where he featured in 17 games, and the WTC final. Umesh Yadav has been dropped after his wayward ways in the WTC final, and that's opened the doors for Navdeep Saini whose last Test was the epic Gabba victory over two years ago.

Bihar-born Mukesh Kumar, 29, was one of the standbys during the WTC final and has been one of Bengal's leading seamers for quite a while. He bagged 22 wickets in the 2022-2023 Ranji season and helped Bengal reach the final. The seamer, with 149 scalps in 38 first-class matches, could get a crack as India look to build towards the final at Lord's in 2025.

India also continue to keep faith in left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who was a late addition to the squad for the two-Test series in Bangladesh last year. He came in as a replacement for the then-injured Mukesh and even went on to add to his lone Test cap after a gap of 12 years. Unadkat is also a part of the ODI squad against the WI, keeping in mind the upcoming World Cup back home.

Ishan Kishan remains one of the wicketkeepers in the squad, with the management seeming to keep their faith in their first-choice pick KS Bharat. The 29-year-old from Andhra had a rough beginning to his gloveman career on the spitting pitches against Australia at home but impressed in differently challenging conditions in the UK.

India play their Tests against the West Indies in Dominica (July 12-16) and Trinidad (July 20-24).