Rohit Sharma: ‘Simple si baat hai,’ all 11 members should step up vs West Indies

India skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that he would have a brand new opening associate within the first Test match towards West Indies that begins in Dominica on July 12.

In their first Test match of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle, India will subject a brand new opening mixture with the skipper set to be partnered by 21-year-old left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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Jaiswal comes off the again of a stellar efficiency within the home circuit throughout codecs, together with an excellent season within the Indian Premier League.

The left-hander, who was the Player of the Tournament on the 2020 U19 Cricket World Cup, was a stand-by squad member for India’s World Test Championship 2023 Final towards Australia final month and was known as as much as the Test squad for the collection towards West Indies.

Jaiswal has performed solely 15 first-class matches, however averages over 80 in these, with 9 lots of and a highest rating of 265.

With Jaiswal confirmed on the prime, Rohit’s incumbent associate Shubman Gill will go right down to No.3, in response to the skipper, to fill the spot vacated by Cheteshwar Pujara, who wasn’t thought-about for this tour.

“Gill will play at number 3 because Gill himself wants to play at number 3,” Rohit stated forward of the primary Test on Wednesday.

“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.

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“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.”

India are additionally set to play two spinners within the first Test in response to Rohit Sharma. Although he didn’t verify who the spinners had been, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are primed to take the 2 spots with Axar Patel the opposite spinner within the squad.