India squad for WI Tests: Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Siraj included; Shikhar Dhawan dropped

Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Mohammed Siraj were included in the India squad for the Test series against West Indies while Shikhar Dhawan missed out after a disastrous series against England.

Mayank Agarwal was handed his maiden Test call-up while Shikhar Dhawan was dropped as BCCI announced the 15-member squad for the two-match Test series against West Indies on Saturday.

Shikhar Dhawan was not included in the India squad for the Test series against West Indies. (REUTERS)

Dhawan had a forgettable outing during the Test series against England with just 162 runs in 8 innings and as a result, he did not find a place in the India squad for the West Indies Test series. On the other hand, Mayank was the top scorer in the last Ranji Trophy season with 1160 runs in 8 matches.

Virat Kohli, who was rested for the Asia Cup 2018, will be making a return while the team management went with the young Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul as options for the opening slot.

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The other new face was Mohammed Siraj after he performed brilliantly for India A in the recently-concluded quadrangular series featuring Australia A and South Africa A.

As reported earlier by Hindustan Times, fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrahwere rested for the Test series while Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya were not included in the squad due to injury concerns.

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The five-match ODI series will begin on October 21 at Guwahati, followed by the second ODI on October 24th at Indore and third ODI at Pune on October 27th. The final two one-dayers will be held at Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram on October 29th and November 1.

The one-dayers will be followed by the three T20 Internationals to be held at Kolkata (November 4), Lucknow (November 6) and Chennai (November 11).

Full squad: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, C Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), H Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, M Shami, Umesh Yadav, M Siraj, Shardul Thakur