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New Delhi: Shikhar Dhawan’s man of the series winning effort at the Asia Cup hasn’t helped him save his spot in the Indian Test squad.
The opener was dropped from India’s 15-man squad for the two-Test series against the West Indies starting on October 4. Dhawan had an underwhelming tour of England prior to his exploits at the Asia Cup, scoring just 162 runs in eight innings at an average of 20.25.
Dhawan’s place at the top of the order has gone to Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal, who has been in supreme form in recent months.
18-year old Prithvi Shaw, who was included in the squad for the final two Tests in England, has retained his place and will be the front-runner to partner KL Rahul.
India Tests squad: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur
The selectors have also decided to rest the fast bowling duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bumrah has been playing non-stop since the third Test in England and Bhuvneshwar only returned to the ODI squad for the Asia Cup after a long spell on the sidelines due to injury that saw him miss the Test series in England.
Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya were not considered for selection, as they are yet to recover from their injuries.
The first Test will be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot from October 4-8, followed by the second Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from October 12-16.
