India commence their tour of West Indies with the first of two Tests in Roseau, Dominica on July 12, and the side have chosen to give young gun Yashasvi Jaiswal his much-awaited international debut on Thursday night. Jaiswal will be making his international debut while Ishan Kishan will also make his much-awaited Test debut.
Meanwhile, West Indies won the toss and chose to bat first.
"We have been here for a while, played a practice game in Barbados, here in Dominica for the last 4 days, rain did have a say, but we're well prepared. The championship cycle final is two years away, but we've been consistent over the last couple of cycles. New guys in the squad, we just want to keep better as a team. I want the two debutants to enjoy, they've worked hard to come here, I want to make them feel comfortable and have some good memories of their first Test," Rohit said.
Jaiswal, a part of the reserves during the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in June, has a remarkable record in First-Class (FC) cricket. The youngster has scored 1,845 runs in 15 matches at a spectacular average of 80.21, including nine hundreds and two half-centuries.
Jaiswal also made a colossal impact with the bat in the 2023 Indian Premier League. Playing for Rajasthan Royals, Jaiswal scored 625 runs in 14 matches and ended the tournament as the fifth-highest run-scorer.
Earlier, skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that star batter Shubman Gill expressed his desire to play at No.3. Gill believes that batting in this position will allow him to contribute more effectively to the team. The skipper also highlighted the advantage of having a left-right opening combination.
"Gill will play at number 3 because Gill himself wants to play at number 3," Rohit said ahead of the first Test. "He discussed with Rahul (Dravid) that I have played all my cricket at 3 and 4. I think I can do better for my team if I bat at number 3. And it is good for us too because it becomes an opening combination of left and right.
"So I think we will try to do this and hopefully this will go on for a long time. Because we have been looking for a left-hander for many years. So now that we have got that left-hander, let's hope he performs well for the team. And he can really make that spot his own."
West Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva(w), Jason Holder, Rahkeem Cornwall, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj
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