Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal crushing mood during friendly match

Team India will kick off their 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle against the West Indies from July 12 in Dominica.

New Delhi: India are back in action as they take on the West Indies in a multi-format series after falling to Australia in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) last month (June). The journey begins July 12 in Roseau, Dominica, with the two-game test series. For both teams, this marks the start of the 2023–2025 World Test Championship cycle (WTC cycle).

Currently, Rohit Sharma and company are adapting to the climate in the Caribbean in Barbados. At the Kensington Oval in Barbados, they took part in a two-day exhibition match. Footage has surfaced in certain practice sessions showing skipper Rohit Sharma and young sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal firing vicious pull shots towards the border. The southpaw’s ill-timed pull allowed him to cross the infield, while Sharma successfully cleared the outfielder on a deep, fine leg to max out.

India’s warm-up game.

Video courtesy: Instagram/cricbarbados#IndianCricketTeam pic.twitter.com/ZawSnvYsqt

— Aniket (@anikkett) July 5, 2023

The Indian team again came under heavy fire when they lost the knockout match in the ICC tournament, aka the WTC final, to Australia in England’s Kia Oval. Following the Indian Test side’s exclusion of seasoned batsman Chesteshwar Pujara who failed to impress in the WTC final after an excellent run for Sussex in the County Championship. While team India searches for a new No. 3 batsman, Shubman Gill is the leader batting at No. 3 and Yashasvi Jaiswal gets to open the innings alongside Rohit Sharma in the first test match on 12 July Dominica.

However, in Tests Gill averages 32.89 in 16 matches and perhaps number 3 could be an ideal place for him to show his potential. It will be interesting to see how India lines up for the first test.

India’s Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice Captain), KS Bharat (Wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.