Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal and right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj, who plays for Hyderabad in first-class cricket, are the new faces in 14-member Indian squad for the forthcoming two-Test home series against West Indies that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Saturday.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested for the series, while opener Shikhar Dhawan has been dropped.
The first Test will be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot between 4-9 October followed by the second one at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from 12 October.
With Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay’s names missing in the squad, the selectors have made it clear that they are going to invest in the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw.
Here’s a look at the recent form of the fresh faces in the Indian squad – Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Siraj, and the opening batsman who may make his Test debut against West Indies – Prithvi Shaw.
Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal has shown great grit and determination throughout the year and finally he has been rewarded with a maiden Test call-up. The Karnataka batsman has scored heavily across first-class and one-day cricket since 2017.
The 27-year-old has scored the most number of runs in first-class cricket among all players since November 2017. He was the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 with 1,160 runs in 13 innings at an average of 68.80. In the recent match between Indian Board President's XI and West Indies, Agarwal scored 90 runs off 111 balls.
The Karnataka batsman has proved his prowess in one-day cricket as well, notching the highest number of runs among all batsmen in the format since November 2017. Agarwal finished as the second highest scorer in the recently concluded India A Team Quadrangular Series. He scored 236 runs in 4 innings with a highest score of 124 runs.
Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj, who impressed one and all during the Indian Premier League this year, will be seen hitting the nets with the Indian Test team. The 24-year-old has picked up 21 wickets in 17 IPL matches at an average of 27.57, but his first-class average is even better – 18.92.
In his last three first-class matches, Siraj has taken a whopping 25 wickets. He played one match against Australia A and two matches against South Africa A.
The Hyderabad bowler has performed reasonably well throughout this year, recording good strike-rates across various competitions.
Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw has been scoring runs consistently in the first-class circuit since his debut in January last year. He started off with a bang, scoring 120 runs against Tamil Nadu.
The 18-year-old showed great form while playing Test matches for India A. He notched scores of 188 and 136 against West Indies A and South Africa A respectively.
The Mumbai batsman, who was part of the Test squad for the last two matches of the India-England series, scored 129 runs off 81 balls in a recent Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Railways.
(With inputs from IANS)
(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan)
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