Uncapped Thakur Name for West Indies tour

Uncapped Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur has been picked for West Indies Tests tour.

Mumbai: Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur has been picked in the 17-member squad for the four-Test tour of the West Indies in July-August. Virat Kohli will captain the team, while Ajinkya Rahane has been named vice-captain.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra complete the spin bowling facet of India's bowling attack, with Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami and Thakur the five fast bowlers picked.

Shami, 25, last played a Test in January 2015. He made a comeback to India's T20I squad in March, having twice been forced out of the squad with a persistent injury over the past six months.

This is the first representative call-up for Thakur, 24. The seamer has been the leader of Mumbai's pace attack in domestic cricket and contributed 41 wickets at 15.48 apiece during the storied team's 41st Ranji Trophy title this year. Overall, Thakur has 133 wickets in 37 first-class matches.

He replaces Aaron, who managed two wickets in two Tests against South Africa last year

Bhuvneshwar did not play against South Africa but now stands a chance to be picked in the Caribbean, where his style of bowling should be effective on slow and low surfaces.

India last toured the West Indies for Tests in 2011, winning the three-match series 1-0 under Dhoni. Kohli's team is ranked second on the ICC table for Test teams, six points behind leaders Australia.

India squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Stuart Binny