India captain Shubman Gill surprised a few when he named the team's playing XI for the first Test against the West Indies in Ahmedabad on Thursday. It was the West Indies skipper Roston Chase who won the toss and opted to bat first. With no Rishabh Pant, the management decided to give the wicket-keeping responsibilities to Dhruv Jurel. However, a few eyebrows were raised when the entire playing XI line-up was revealed. There was no place for Devdutt Padikkal, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter who was named in the team as a replacement for Karun Nair.
Despite being out of form for a long time, Nitish Kumar Reddy was preferred in the playing XI over Padikkal. There was also no place for Prasidh Krishna, who had impressed many with his bowling on the England tour.
"We have got four Tests (at home) before the end of the year and we would like to win all four. Preparation has been good. Everyone is in great touch, it is about getting into the red-ball mindset. It looks like a very good surface. Not disappointed with losing the toss; it has been under covers and there might be some help early on. We have two seamers - Bumrah and Siraj, three spinners - Jaddu Bhai, Washington and Kuldeep, and all-rounder Nitish Reddy," Gill said at the time of the toss.
India picked three spinners-Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar-while the two fast bowlers are Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Nitish Kumar Reddy is the fast-bowling all-rounder.
India's playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
West Indies playing XI: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, John Campbell, Alick Athanaze, Brandon King, Shai Hope (wk), Roston Chase (c), Justin Greaves, Jomel Warrican, Khary Pierre, Johann Layne, Jayden Seales.