India has selected its mens squad for the upcoming West Indies tour, starting July 12. It has dropped several players from Chesteshwar Pujara to Mohammed Shami. This time, its not only that players are not on the list of ODI, and Test series but some, doors are opened too. Jaydev Unadkat kept his spot while IPLs Delhi Capitals pacer Mukesh Kumar received his maiden India call-up. Also, Navdeep Saini got a chance to be in the Indian squad. While some youngsters have been called for the upcoming West Indies tour, the team still has core players such as Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel forming the team.However, former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar feels that Team India has missed a wonderful opportunity by not giving a chance to more young players for the Tests against WI. The veteran player suggested that the players who are certain to play ODI World Cup in October-November 2023, should focus only on playing white-ball cricket onwards. Gavaskars reaction to Team Indias player selection Speaking to the media, Gavaskar said, “The World Test Championship is gone. We missed out over there. Now the next big thing really is the (ODI) World Cup in October and therefore I would have wanted the big boys to be given a complete break from Test cricket. Now look only at white-ball cricket, not red-ball cricket. Give them a complete break who are certain to play World Cup. They have been playing non-stop cricket for 3-4 months. They barely had a break.”He added. “Had they given a break to every senior player and played a few more younger players, that would have done Indian cricket a world of good. But that sadly hasnt happened. I think a wonderful opportunity was missed.”The upcoming West Indies tour seems to be a new chapter for Team India, as they are preparing to go on the long race in the WTC 2023-25 cycle.
