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India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against the West Indies was announced earlier this week. The team was on the expected lines and chief selector Ajit Agarkar was clear in his words while dropping a few players from the Test squad. At the same time, he also stated that the team clearly doesn’t want a repeat of what happened against New Zealand in the previous home season.
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For the unversed, India’s proud unbeaten record at home in a Test series since 2012 ended in the New Zealand as they lost the three-match rubber 3-0. Agarkar also termed the drubbing as a wake-up call and also expressed how important was it to put that result behind.
“Of course, because of the WTC [World Test Championship], every Test match becomes very important. Obviously, we had a terrible series against New Zealand. Maybe it was a wake-up call. It was a lesson. We don't want that repeated. We've generally been, over a long time, very strong at home. It was after a while that we had a few bad results. And we want to try and put it behind us,” Agarkar said during the press conference.
3 Indian stalwarts have retired since the New Zealand series
However, a lot has changed in Indian Test cricket since then. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin have retired from the format and Shubman Gill has taken over the Test captaincy. A young Indian team also did well under Gill in his first tour as captain against England away home, levelling the five-match series 2-2.
Meanwhile, India will be playing four Test matches in the upcoming home season, two each against West Indies and South Africa and each of them will be crucial, thanks to World Test Championships (WTC).
“All these four Test matches that we play at home, to West Indies and to South Africa, become very critical. We want to try and get as many points as possible, particularly at home. It's a game, so anything is possible. But we don't want to try and let what happened against New Zealand happen again,” Agarkar added.
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