India vs West Indies 2018: Kemar Roach set to miss warm-up game
West Indies pacer Kemar Roach, bereaved by the passing away of his grandmother, will fly back to Barbados for her funeral and is expected to miss his side's warm-up game in India.
The 30-year-old, part of the Windies side that is set to tour the subcontinent, will re-join the squad in time for the first Test at Rajkot, starting October 4.
Roach is the senior-most in a five-pronged pace attack that also has Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Keemo Paul and Sherman Lewis. The 20-year-old Paul played a solitary Test in July this year, while Lews, who replaced the injured Alzarri Joseph, is yet to make his debut.
The Holder-led team will play two Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is from October 4 to November 11.
No replacement has been named for Roach.
Roach's return comes a day after head coach Stuart Law announced that he would be stepping down from his role in January 2019 and will take over as the coach of Middlesex.
"I have had to make the difficult decision to leave my role of Head Coach with CWI. It has been very enjoyable, and I believe we have made tremendous strides forward as a team during the past two years," Law had said.
Part of the 2011 side that toured India (Sachin Tendulkar's last Test series), Roach played just one game and picked up two wickets. Having debuted in 2009, he has, till date, played 48 games and picked up 163 wickets in Test matches.
His last Test came against Bangladesh in July this year at home, after which he played a couple of games for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League 2018. He was rested for the second Test against Bangladesh after picking up a hamstring strain.
Here's the entire West Indies squad:
Jason Holder (captain), Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Jahmar Hamilton, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Keemo Paul, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrica