Shreyas Iyer To Return, 5 Players OUT! India’s Likely Squad For 2-Match Test Series Against West Indies | Cricket News

The Indian men’s cricket team will face the West Indies in a two-match Test series. The series opener is scheduled to take place at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from October 2 to 6, and Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium will host the second red-ball match from October 10 to 14. The BCCI selectors are set to announce India’s squad for the home series in the coming days.

Shubman Gill, who is playing in the Asia Cup 2025 these days, will continue to lead the Indian team, but there are question marks over the availability of Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant. Pant suffered a foot injury on Day 1 of the fourth India-England Test in Manchester on July 23, and since that fixture, he has been out of action.

If reports are to be believed then Pant will not play in the two Tests against the West Indies. It will be interesting to see who will be Gill’s deputy if Pant misses out.

KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah have captained India in the five-day format of the game in the past, and they could be picked once again for the vice-captain’s role.

In India’s first home series of the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, Rahul will play as an opener along with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is also India’s highest-ranked Test batter at present. In England, Abhimanyu Easwaran was the backup opener, and the right-handed batter from Bengal in all likelihood will retain his place.

Sai Sudharsan scored two half-centuries in England, and he is also expected to retain his place in the Test squad, but the same can’t be said about Karun Nair. The Karnataka batter had a pretty ordinary series in England, and there is a high possibility of him losing his place.

As Nair’s replacement, Indian selectors are expected to include Shreyas Iyer in the squad. Iyer, who is leading India A in two unofficial Tests against Australia A these days in Lucknow, is not picked for three one-day matches against Australia A, which has raised the possibility of his Test comeback.

The Mumbai-based batter last played a red-ball match for Team India in February 2024 against England. Along with Iyer, selectors could also include Sarfaraz Khan in the Test team. Sarfaraz has a good Test record in India.

In Pant’s absence, Dhruv Jurel will be India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter, and Tamil Nadu’s Narayan Jagadeesan is likely to be his backup. Jagadeesan replaced Pant in India’s squad for the fifth Test against England as well but didn’t get a chance to play. In his last two red-ball matches, Jagadeesan has scored 197, 52*, and 64 runs.

World No. 1 Test all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav were part of the series in England, and they are set to feature in home Tests against the West Indies too, whereas the onus of pace bowling will rest upon the shoulders of world No. 1 Test bowler Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep.

Since Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh are part of the India A squad for one-day matches against Australia A, they are unlikely to be picked for the Test matches.

India vs West Indies Test series schedule

India’s likely squad for two-match Test series against the West Indies: Shubman Gill (C), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, B Sai Sudharsan, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Narayan Jagadeesan (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep

Possible changes from England series

OUT: Arshdeep Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur

IN: Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan