India squad for West Indies Test series

[StraightDrive26]

We seem to have formed a good core for the Test team and we should plan to win all the games we play at home, irrespective of the opponents. The batting seems solid and if our spinners can be consistent, it will be difficult to beat us at home. We should not prepare rank turners like we did against NZ as this brings good spinners from the opposition into the game. The best way is to prepare a pitch which turns but not alarmingly, these are the kind of pitches were our spinners outbowl the opponents and our pacers come into play with the reverse swing. Pitches like the SA series few years ago and the England series last year where our pacers also took quite a few wickets should be the template. Such pitches will also give our batters a chance to pile on the runs. Rank turners are a lottery and WI have couple of very good spinners who can trouble our batters on a rank turner. 

[Nikhil_cric]

On 9/7/2025 at 2:13 PM, Gollum said:

WI series much more important than that godforsaken Asia Cup. Guys like Bumrah, Gill, KD, Axar should be rested for final stages of AC. 

How is Test series at home against WI that important? Last time they played a Test, I don't think they had a single guy who had an average above 30 in that lineup.  South Zone will smash that team currently

[Lord]

8 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

How is Test series at home against WI that important? Last time they played a Test, I don't think they had a single guy who had an average above 30 in that lineup.  South Zone will smash that team currently

 

yes its actually an opportunity to blood in youngsters especially pacers.

[Nikhil_cric]

9 hours ago, Lord said:

 

yes its actually an opportunity to blood in youngsters especially pacers.

Yeah. No need for Bumrah to play in this series or even Siraj for that matter. 

[Gollum]

22 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

How is Test series at home against WI that important? Last time they played a Test, I don't think they had a single guy who had an average above 30 in that lineup.  South Zone will smash that team currently

Last time we played NZ, they were coming from a whitewash in Sri Lanka including conceding a 550 runs first innings lead in their final test, we know what happened next. 

[Nikhil_cric]

43 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Last time we played NZ, they were coming from a whitewash in Sri Lanka including conceding a 550 runs first innings lead in their final test, we know what happened next. 

There is no comparison between NZ and WI in this format.   The only guy to average more than 25 in the last WI lineup was Roston Chase. 

 

NZ had players with very high ceilings like Rachin, Phillips, O' Rourke etc. and some of their batsmen had even trained specifically before the tour on how to bat on our surfaces. 

 

If full strength  India loses a single session against WI, it would be an embarrassment 

[Gollum]

1 minute ago, Nikhil_cric said:

There is no comparison between NZ and WI in this format.   The only guy to average more than 25 in the last WI lineup was Roston Chase. 

 

NZ had players with very high ceilings like Rachin, Phillips, O' Rourke etc. and some of their batsmen had even trained specifically before the tour on how to bat on our surfaces. 

 

If full strength  India loses a single session against WI, it would be an embarrassment 

WI side is mercurial, Gabba D/N win, series draw in Pak. And their frequent phaintas of Poms. 

 

We are better, but won't take anything for granted. Our home aura is gone, need to rebuild it from scratch. 

[Nikhil_cric]

12 minutes ago, Gollum said:

WI side is mercurial, Gabba D/N win, series draw in Pak. And their frequent phaintas of Poms. 

 

We are better, but won't take anything for granted. Our home aura is gone, need to rebuild it from scratch. 

 

Their phaintas to Poms were in the Caribbean, not away from home .

 

Their victories were on helpful wickets which narrowed the gap between the batting lineups at both the Gabba and and in Multan .

 

Shouldn't take them lightly but it's not an important series 

 

Edited September 10, 2025 by Nikhil_cric

[Gollum]

5 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Their victories were on helpful wickets which narrowed the gap between the batting lineups at both the Gabba and and in Multan .

Since 2021, that is what we have been doing at home most of the times, GG ordered those 2 rank turners after Bengaluru loss last year. Had we played on the pitches we gave England earlier that year, we would have still won. 

 

On fair, balanced pitches, we will crush WI. RSA will obviously be a tough series, when we beat them in 2019, we were at the peak of our powers, even Kohli was a machine back then.  

[Gollum]

WTC final qualification must be top priority this time, win 4-0 this home season and we will get a nice cushion.

 

Bumrah, Siraj may not be that effective 4 years from now. 

[deathmonger]

On 9/7/2025 at 7:00 PM, Gollum said:

WI can always spring a surprise. Gabba, win on that rank turner in Pak, their continuous dhulai of Poms. 

 

Still back us to win 2-0. RSA will be a stiff challenge, rate them above NZ, Aus, Poms in present form. 

Weakest spinners of the lot though.

[Gollum]

5 minutes ago, deathmonger said:

Weakest spinners of the lot though.

Present version of Maharaj better than Santner, Lyon (old, washed up), Ajaz and whoever represents Eng. 

 

If we make rank turners, their second spinner will provide solid support to Maharaj, and Markram will do Phillips' job. Otherwise, their pacers will be tough...we saw what NZ did to us last year in Bengaluru, right? RSA pace attack is much better than the trio of Rourke, Henry, (old) Southie. Back Rabada to emulate Donald/Steyn this time. 

 

Also like NZ, RSA will come to India after a good practice series (2 tests in October in Pak), they will be ready. 

Edited September 10, 2025 by Gollum

[Nikhil_cric]

35 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Since 2021, that is what we have been doing at home most of the times, GG ordered those 2 rank turners after Bengaluru loss last year. Had we played on the pitches we gave England earlier that year, we would have still won. 

 

On fair, balanced pitches, we will crush WI. RSA will obviously be a tough series, when we beat them in 2019, we were at the peak of our powers, even Kohli was a machine back then.  

Bangalore loss also was because Rohit chose to bat on a damp, covered pitch which was seaming around like crazy.

 

That series was the motherlode of bad ideas/ stupid decisions. 

 

 

[vishalvirsingh]

On 9/7/2025 at 6:44 PM, express bowling said:

Low key test series must be used to develop Harshit Rana.

if i am agarkar , i would rest siraj and BOOM against the WI series and play Gurnoor ,prasidh, Harshit rana as Pacers.

Among spinners -any way KUldeep, axar, jaddu ,washi would take all the wickets. manav suthar ,harsh dubey should also be tried. i could play 3 spinners and 2 pacers

[govinda]

3 hours ago, vishalvirsingh said:

if i am agarkar , i would rest siraj and BOOM against the WI series and play Gurnoor ,prasidh, Harshit rana as Pacers.

Among spinners -any way KUldeep, axar, jaddu ,washi would take all the wickets. manav suthar ,harsh dubey should also be tried. i could play 3 spinners and 2 pacers

Arre Anna bumrah deserves cheap wickets and let him do some minnow bashing. More wickets he gets haters wont have to show excuse of longevity

Edited September 11, 2025 by govinda

[Majestic]

Pacers will likely be Siraj, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna.

 

4 spinners( including A/Rs) - Kuldeep, Axar, Jadeja, Washington 

 

Openers - KLR, Jaiswal

 

middle order - Sai, Gill, Pant, Shreyas, Sarfaraz

 

backup keeper - Jurel

Edited September 11, 2025 by Majestic

[Sooda]

There is a part of me that would like to say bye to Jadeja who is now more of a batting AR, especially away from home though he will definitely be a force at home. But he is not going anywhere 

 

Jaiswal 

KL 

Sai

Gill

Nair

Pant

Jadeja 

Sundar 

Kuldeep 

Akash 

Siraj 

 

Axar, Kotian, Prasidh, Jurel if fit

 

 

 

[Nikhil_cric]

On 9/11/2025 at 12:38 PM, vishalvirsingh said:

if i am agarkar , i would rest siraj and BOOM against the WI series and play Gurnoor ,prasidh, Harshit rana as Pacers.

Among spinners -any way KUldeep, axar, jaddu ,washi would take all the wickets. manav suthar ,harsh dubey should also be tried. i could play 3 spinners and 2 pacers

This. We need to develop pace bench strength. No point flogging Bumrah here immediately after Asia Cup. 

[cowboysfan]

we got rid of 2 bad players of spin in Kohli and Rohit but still we don't have a SINGLE  great player of spin,i don't trust any of the current bunch to score on a Turner. 

[jf1gp_1]

On 9/12/2025 at 9:09 PM, cowboysfan said:

we got rid of 2 bad players of spin in Kohli and Rohit but still we don't have a SINGLE  great player of spin,i don't trust any of the current bunch to score on a Turner. 

Maybe Iyer