IND vs WI: Watch: Not Shubman Gill But Yashasvi Jaiswal Comes Out To Open With Rohit Sharma During Practice Game Ahead Of West Indies Tests

Rohit Sharma & Co. have begun their preparation for India’s upcoming two-match Test series against West Indies. India are scheduled to play two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20Is against the Caribbean outfit.

The tour will get underway next week with the Test series. The series will be India’s first assignment since the loss against Australia in the World Test Championship final last month. The Rohit Sharma-led side suffered a humiliating 209-run loss against Australia and will be desperate to bounce back.

The upcoming series will also start India’s campaign in the third cycle of the WTC. Team India have faced severe criticism for coming up with a poor performance in yet another ICC knockout game and will be looking to prove the critics wrong.

India’s preparation underway:

Earlier this week, Team India landed in Barbados and the preparation for the Test series has started. The Indian players played a practice game on Wednesday and the team management sprung a big surprise by sending Yashasvi Jaiswal to open the innings with skipper Rohit Sharma.

While Shubman Gill has been the designated Test opener in the absence of KL Rahul, Jaiswal was the one who walked out to bat with Rohit as the opener. It will be interesting to see if Jaiswal opens the innings or not in the Test series after Gill’s twin failures in the WTC final. The left-right combination could make the team management go with Jaiswal while asking Gill to bat at number three.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma looked in good touch with the bat during the practice game. The India skipper pulled Jaydev Unadkat for a brilliant six.

Here is a clip of that six from Rohit:

India’s warm up match.

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

— Aniket (@anikkkett) July 5, 2023

Yashasvi has earned his maiden Test call-up for the series. The southpaw was also included in the India squad as a backup opener for the WTC final last month. The highly-rated opener has been rewarded after his consistent performances in the domestic circuit and IPL 2023.