‘Kaash yahi kaam WTC final me kiya hota’ – Fans react as Rohit Sharma confirms Yashasvi Jaiswal’s debut in 1st Test against West Indies

India are all set to take on the hosts West Indies for the first Test of the two-match series that will begin soon at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium in Dominica. The Test match will also kickstart the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle for both sides. Ahead of the match, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma shed light on the team’s combination for the first Test.

Rohit confirmed that the young batter Yashasvi Jaiswal will be making his India debut in the Dominica Test. Meanwhile, opening batter Shubman Gill will now be batting at number three after he himself requested to the Head Coach Rahul Dravid. The 23-year-old expressed his desire to play at number three with a belief that he can contribute more effectively by batting at that position. While this also means that, Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit as the Indian skipper highlighted the benefits of having a left-right opening combination.

“For the batting positions, Gill will play at No. 3. He himself has said that he had a chat with Rahul Dravid and said that he’s played his entire career at 3 and 4 and that he can perform better for the team at No. 3. And for us also it becomes better because we have a left-right opening combination. So that is what we’ll try to do and hopefully, this will go for a long term. We have wanted a left-hander for a long time and we’ve got one now and let’s hope he performs well for the team and can really make his spot his own,” Rohit said at the Press Conference ahead of the first Test.

We’ll play with two spinners and three seamers: Rohit Sharma

Notably, the choice of the playing XI has been influenced by the nature of the pitch at Windsor Park. This means that star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be making a comeback in the playing after missing out in the World Test Championship final last month, and will spearhead the spin-bowling attack with Ravindra Jadeja.

“Looking at the wicket, it looks like we’ll play with two spinners and three seamers. Because what we’ve seen here, 2017 was the last Test played here and lot of wickets taken by the spinners. Having practised here as well and with the bounce, we feel that we have to go with the 3-2 combination,” the Indian skipper added.

That means Ishan Kishan is not debuting tomorrow?

— Aditya Saha (@Adityakrsaha) July 11, 2023

Yahi kaam agar aapne WTC Final me kiya hota to ham sab ka kitna bhala hota pic.twitter.com/0b3tczEFJN

— Dyno 🕶 (@dyno_tweet) July 11, 2023

Hopefully it's Axar and Jaddu
Axar can't be the scapegoat always and he is currently the the 3rd best test batter of this team

— DC HYPE (@17xDC) July 11, 2023

Love the fact that Hitman is being creative, and focusing on that lefty righty combo.
Shubhman at 3 means Rohit will be striking the ball.
At 4 I would like to see another left hander, preferably Pant but wouldn’t mind trying out Ishan over there or Jadeja even.
Then u guys tell

— pratik (@pr4tik360) July 12, 2023

ICT gonna show some glimpses of

1 . Prime captaincy and batting of Hitman
2. Prime gill
3. Jaiswal debut ton
4. Run machine kohli tending 28🔜29
5.
6.
And soon

And at the end we have to see another shocking expression from kohli

— Asad (@sameerahmad0814) July 11, 2023

Top 8 are then more or less final. Only question would be about who would be the 3 pacers- I feel Siraj & Unadkat are also fixed in that.

Third pacer between Saini & Mukesh.

If India is looking at grooming a replacement for Umesh then Navdeep should play both tests.

— Advaitya Chandhoke (@AdvaityaC) July 11, 2023

Yessss such a huge test match is coming. Against the world champions and a great team of West Indies that's why our players have reached Caribbean 10 days before and for a mediocre match like WTC final against Aus they needed just 4 days. Great cricket team.

— jugal.gaud (@im_gaud) July 11, 2023