Roseau (Dominica): India's young brigade Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad are excited to make their debut in the Indian side in the first test match against West Indies at Dominica.
Jaiswal and Gaikwad, featured in a video of BCCI where they shared their experiences and cricketing journey.
Gaikwad who already debuted for the team in T20I and ODIs and would play his first Test in West Indies, welcomed Jaiswal into the side and about his journey.
“I am feeling great, congratulation to you too, you have also been selected for the test side. It is a really good feeling and I am looking forward to it," Jaiswal said in the video posted by BCCI.
Gaikwad asked about Jaiswal's journey in the IPL, ”You started with domestic cricket and then performed well in IPl too, so how are you feeling to be in test cricket.”
"These few months had been amazing, I am trying to continue that," Jaiswal answered.
"I was happy (hearing about his selection into the side), for me the test is the true form of cricket, when I was growing up, I always wanted to be in the test team,” the Mumbai player said when asked about his selection in the team.
Gaikwad revealed the first time he saw Jaiswal playing, He said, "I remember you playing in the Deodhar trophy with me, there you were fearless, young Jaiswal. We were playing at Mahi bhai’s town and there this young left-hander was hitting balls and scoring 50. The second time, we were playing in Dubai, I scored 100 and you scored 50 in that match,"
"I heard your name when I was playing domestic, My friend used to take your name and told me to learn from you. When I played with you, I observe what you do in the match," Jaiswal said about Gaikwad.
Skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that he would have a new opening partner in the first Test of the two-match series against West Indies that begins in Dominica on Wednesday.
India will select a new opening combination in their first Test of the ICC World Test Championship 2023–25 cycle, with the skipper expected to be joined by 21-year-old left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Jaiswal enjoyed a successful year of white-ball cricket, hitting 625 runs in the 2023 IPL with an average of 48 and a strike rate of 163.61 while averaging over 80 in his first 26 First Class innings. Jaiswal also enjoyed a successful year of red-ball cricket, making 265 in the second innings of the Duleep Trophy Final last year.
Ruturaj was CSK's victorious IPL 2023 campaign. He was one of the stars of the campaign, stitching important partnerships with fellow opener Devon Conway. In 16 matches, Gaikwad scored 590 runs at an average of 42.14. He also scored four half-centuries in the tournament, with best score of 92.
In his IPL career since his debut for CSK since 2019, he has scored 1,797 runs at an average of 39.07 and a strike rate of 135.52. He has scored one century and 14 fifties, with best score of 101*.
He has played 9 T20Is for India, in which he has scored 135 runs with one fifty. He has also represented India in one ODI, in which he scored 19 runs.
India's Test squad against West Indies: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat and Navdeep Saini. (ANI)
