Kohli to lead India in Tests, Mayank makes cut

Asia Cup winning captain, Rohit Sharma, was not considered for selection, while Shikhar Dhawan was also left out.

Mayank Agarwal has been rewarded for a brilliant outing in the domestic circuit. (FILE PHOTO)

Putting speculations to rest, the All-India senior selection committee named Virat Kohli as the captain of the Indian team for the two-match Test series against the West Indies. Karnataka batsman, Mayank Agarwal, who has had an outstanding outing at the domestic level, has also been named in the squad.

Asia Cup winning captain, Rohit Sharma, was not considered for selection, while Shikhar Dhawan was also left out.

Taking stock of the recent workload, the selectors decided to rest Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Both Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya were not considered for selection, as they are yet to recover from their injuries. Earlier, there were speculations that Kohli could miss the Test following a wrist injury, but all that speculations went up in the smoke as the selectors chose to go ahead with Kohli as the skipper.

The first Test will be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot from October 4-9, followed by the second Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from October 12-16.

The squad:  Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur.