India skipper Rohit Sharma on Tuesday confirmed that young Yashasvi Jaiswal will make his debut and play as an opener in the first Test of the two-match series against West Indies, which begins here on July 12.
The 21-year-old Jaiswal comes off the back of a stellar performance in the domestic circuit across formats, including a brilliant season in the Indian Premier League.
The left-hander, who was the Player of the Tournament at the 2020 U19 Cricket World Cup, was a stand-by squad member for India’s World Test Championship 2023 Final against Australia last month and was called up to the Test squad for the series against West Indies.
Jaiswal has played only 15 first-class matches but averages over 80 in those, with nine centuries and a highest score of 265.
Addressing the pre-match press conference, the India captain mentioned that Shubman Gill will go down to No.3 to fill the spot vacated by Cheteshwar Pujara, who wasn’t considered for this tour.
“Gill will play at No.3 because Gill himself wants to play at number 3. 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,” said Rohit on the eve of the first Test.
“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 (Jaiswal) can really make that spot his own,” he added.
The 36-year-old Sharma also confirmed that India are also set to play two spinners in the first Test. Although he did not confirm who the spinners were, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are primed to take the two spots with Axar Patel the other spinner in the squad.
While India will be playing their first Test after their WTC Final loss against Australia, West Indies are coming off a shocking elimination from the ODI World Cup Qualifiers.
There are plenty of challenges for both sides and they will be eager to prove themselves in the beginning phase of ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle.
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