‘Bhai excitement toh bohot hai’ – Fans abuzz as Ishan Kishan and Yashasvi Jaiswal set to make their Test debut in first Test vs West Indies

Team India are all set to begin their multi-format tour of the West Indies with the first Test starting on Wednesday, July 12. West Indies have won the toss and elected to bat first on a track that is only expected to worsen as the days pass by. The team news for Team India includes two vital pieces of information. Indian Premier League (IPL) sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal was awarded his first Test cap for India. At the same time, Ishan Kishan will also be making his debut and keeping the wickets for the side.

Team India will play two Tests in the series which is their first game in the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle. They’ll then contest three ODIs and five T20Is to wrap up the tour. It is expected that a lot of youngsters will be given their chances in the tour that is targeted specifically as a preparatory tour ahead of the marquee competitions – Asia Cup 2023 and ODI World Cup 2023.

‘Every series you play for India is challenging’ – Rohit Sharma

“Every series you play for India is challenging. Whether it’s the first game of a WTC cycle or the last. Every game is important. We played two WTC cycles and two finals but couldn’t win what we wanted to. But this is a new opportunity,” skipper Rohit Sharma had said before the 1st Test.

“(It’s) a new team. Many new players have come in and will keep coming. That’s going to be a separate challenge in itself in this cycle. A good challenge. And to begin it against the West Indies….they play well at home. Their past record at their home grounds has been very good, so it will be a good challenge for our team. I’ll hope we live up to it and play well,” he added.

Here’s the Playing XI for both teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj.

West Indies: Kraigg Braithwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Jason Holder, Rahkeem Cornwall, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/drstrange705/status/1679121442024329217