India's playing XI from their last Test match against West Indies - Where are they now?
India will play a two-match ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series against West Indies later this month. It will be the first series for both teams in the new WTC 2023-25 cycle.
This will be India's first Test on Caribbean soil since 2019. They visited the Caribbean islands in 2022, but the Men in Blue only played white-ball fixtures on that tour. A lot has changed in Indian cricket since the team's last Test match against the West Indies.
In this article, we will look at India's playing XI from their last Test against West Indies, and where those players are now.
Batters - KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, and Rishabh Pant (wk)
India played with seven batters, one all-rounder and three bowlers in that match at the Sabina Park. The match started on August 30, 2019. India scored 416 runs in the first innings, with Hanuma Vihari aggregating 111 runs off 225 deliveries. Captain Virat Kohli scored a half-century as well.
Openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal had a forgettable Test match with the bat. Even Cheteshwar Pujara could not convert his start into a big score. Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with an unbeaten 64 in the second innings, while Vihari chipped in with a 76-ball 53 to support Rahane in the second innings.
Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant batted once and scored 27 off 65. Notably, his 27-run knock consisted of two fours and a six.
Only Kohli and Rahane are a part of the Indian Test squad for the upcoming series against West Indies. Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari have been dropped. Pant and Rahul are currently recovering from injuries.
Interestingly, current Indian captain Rohit Sharma was in the squad for the Test series in 2019, but was benched for both the games.
All-rounder and bowlers - Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah
Ravindra Jadeja was the lone all-rounder in the playing XI. He took a total of four wickets and scored 16 runs in the match. He bagged the crucial wickets of Roston Chase, Jason Holder and Jahmar Hamilton in the second innings.
Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah formed the Indian pace attack in that match. Sharma surprised fans by scoring a half-century with the bat in the first innings. The tall pacer also accounted for three wickets in the game.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers with a six-wicket haul in the first innings. He became the third Indian to take a Test hat-trick when he dismissed Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks and Roston Chase. Mohammed Shami supported him to perfection by scalping a total of five wickets in two innings.
Shami has been rested for the upcoming series against the West Indies team, while Bumrah is recovering from an injury. Sharma has been dropped from the Test squad. Jadeja is the only player from this section to be a member of the team for the next series against West Indies.
Last India vs West Indies Test match summary
India 416 (Hanuma Vihari 111, Jason Holder 5/77) & 168/4 dec (Ajinkya Rahane 64, Kemar Roach 3/28) beat West Indies 117 (Shimron Hetmyer 34, Jasprit Bumrah 6/27) & 210 (Shamarh Brooks 50, Ravindra Jadeja 3/58) by 257 runs.