India vs West Indies Test Squad: Gill to lead with Jadeja as deputy; Bumrah and Padikkal picked as Karun Nair and Easwaran are left out

With regular vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who fractured his foot during the England series, yet to regain full fitness, selectors opted for Jadeja as Gill's deputy.

Shubman Gill (right) and Ravindra Jadeja.

Credit: Reuters Photo

Shubman Gill will the lead India for the two-Test series against West Indies starting on October 2 with Ravindra Jadeja named as his deputy.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday named a 15-member squad , which also features pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah while left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal has been recalled.

With regular vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who fractured his foot during the England series yet to regain full fitness not available for selection, the BCCI selectors decided to pick senior allrounder Jadeja as Gill's deputy.

The axe however fell on Karun Nair and Abhimanyu Easwaran while N Jagadeesan has been retained as the second wicket-keeper in the squad.

Bumrah, who had played only three out of five Tests in England due to workload management, had made himself available for the two-match West Indies series starting in Ahmedabad on October 2.

"Bumrah is ready and keen to play both Tests against West Indies," said selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar while addressing a press conference in Dubai on the sidelines of the ongoing Asia Cup T20 tournament

The second game of the series will be held in Delhi from October 10.

"Hopefully he will be available for home Tests against South Africa (in November)," added Agarkar when asked about Pant.

The series against South Africa will feature two Tests in Kolkata and Guwahati from November 14 to November 26. A three-match ODI and five-match T20 International series will follow the red-ball rubber.

The Test series against the West Indies will be the first for Gill at home as skipper. His skippered India in five Test series in England which was drawn 2-2, after taking over the top job from Rohit Sharma.

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

(with BCCI Media/agency inputs)