Nitish Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal return for West Indies Tests

Nitish Kumar Reddy and Devdutt Padikkal have been added to the two-match Test series against the West Indies in home conditions. Karun Nair and Abhimanyu Easwaran have been omitted from the squad. While Nair scored 205 runs in four Test matches against England, Easwaran could not get his chance on the Australia and England tour despite being part of the squad.

Devdutt Padikkal recently scored a fine knock of 150 against Australia A and he has been given his opportunity in place of Nair.

“Frankly, we expected a little bit more. I mean, he played four Tests,” Agarkar said of Nair. “As it is, I mean, we feel Padikkal offers a little bit more at this point. And I wish we could give everyone 15 or 20 tests. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Padikkal’s been in the Test squad…he was in the Test squad in Australia, played in Dharamshala against England, got a 50 there. So he’s shown some decent form with India. Yeah, frankly, we expected a bit more from Karun on the England trip.”

Rishabh Pant is still recovering from a toe injury and thus veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named as Shubman Gill’s deputy.

“We are hopeful that by the time South Africa comes around, he’s 100% fit,” chief selector Agarkar said of Pant.

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan is currently injured and he was not considered for selection. Both Dhruv Jurel and N Jagadeesan have been added to the squad for the West Indies Tests. Jasprit Bumrah is also added to the squad and Agarkar confirmed that the ace pacer will be available for selection for both games.

Agarkar said, “Yes, he’s available for both the Test matches. We’ve had a fair break after England. In fact, he didn’t play the fifth test either. So there’s been five weeks of break. And even this tournament’s been fairly spaced out till this last week. So he’s ready and keen to play both Test matches.”

The first Test against the West Indies starts in Ahmedabad on October 2.

Squad: Shubman Gill (c), Ravindra Jadeja (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), N. Jagadeesan (wk), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna