The selection committee’s chairman, Ajit Agarkar, gave an explanation for Karun Nair’s exclusion from India’s Test team for the two-match series against the West Indies. Shubman Gill is the skipper and Ravindra Jadeja is the vice-captain of the 15-man team that the BCCI named.
After being offered a chance to compete in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, Nair fell short of the team’s expectations, according to Agarkar. Despite playing a variety of positions for India, the right-handed batsman only managed to score 205 runs at an average of 25 over the series. He went on to say that Devdutt Padikkal was chosen because of his encouraging performance in the India A series and that he provides greater consistency and solidity to the batting order.
To be honest, we had somewhat higher expectations. We’ve only discussed one innings out of his four Test matches. The situation is what it is. Right now, we feel that we need a bit more. I wish we could give everyone 15 or 20 tests because we think Padikkal gives a bit more now. Sadly, that isn’t how it operates. Padikkal was in the Test team, played against Australia, and scored fifty runs against England in Dharamsala. When announcing India’s team at the press conference, Agarkar stated, “Shown decent form with India A.”
In response to Abhimanyu Easwaran’s exclusion, the head selector said that India does not now need another opener. He highlighted that with two openers for the series, the squad had many choices.
“We don’t need a third opener at home on Abhimanyu,” Agarkar stated.
A two-match Test series between India and the West Indies will begin on October 2 in Ahmedabad with the first Test starting on October 10 in Delhi. The team wants to find the ideal balance for the upcoming difficult series.
India’s West Indies series squad
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, and Narayan Jagadeeshan; Shubman Gill, captain; and Ravindra Jadeja, vice-captain
India
