India vs West Indies 2018: India & Australia hand debuts, prepare for high-profile series

Australia will play a short limited overs series against South Africa following the conclusion of the UAE tour. India will head straight Down Under in November following the series against the Windies.

With India’s high profile tour of Australia not far off, both teams are already preparing for the four-Test series that will be played from December 6, 2018.

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli (C) jokes with teammates as he arrives for a training session ahead of the first Test cricket match between India and West Indies at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot (AFP)

Breaking away from the tradition, India on Wednesday named a 12-member team for the first Test against the West Indies in Rajkot.

The Indian team management announced that 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who led the team to Under-19 World Cup triumph in January, will make his debut to become the country’s 293rd Test cricketer.

Simultaneously, 1,600 km away in Dubai, Australia coach Justin Langer confirmed that white-ball specialists Aaron Finch and Travis Head will make their debuts in the first of the two Tests against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, South Africa-born Marnus Labuschagne could also get an Australia cap after regular opener Matt Renshaw got injured during the tour game against Pakistan A.

The decisions to test youngsters are possibly being made by the two teams keeping an eye on the series Down Under.

India have been struggling to find the right combination at the top. In the recent tour to England, the visitors rotated KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay — all failing miserably. Apart from Rahul’s 149 in the fifth and final Test, he only managed 150 runs in nine innings. Dhawan scored 162 runs at an average of 20.25 while Vijay managed a meagre 26 runs in four innings at a lowly average of 6.5.

Captain Virat Kohli also admitted that the top-order’s failure was the reason why India lost in England adding that it is the only area where experimentation is needed ahead of the Australia tour.

The West Indies series will be a good opportunity for teenage prodigy Shaw to make a mark and challenge for a spot at the top as he is set to open alongside Rahul. The Mumbai batsman was called up midway during the England tour after Vijay was dropped but did not get a game.

The Thane-born boasts of a solid first class record, having scored 1,418 runs at an average of 56.72 for Mumbai which includes seven centuries in 14 games. Shaw’s century in his Ranji Trophy debut helped Mumbai reach the final in November 2016 and a year later he became the youngest to score a hundred on Duleep Trophy debut.

Unlike Shaw, Australian Finch and Head are experienced customers who have played several limited overs games for Australia. While 31-year-old Finch has played 93 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and 42 Twenty20 Internationals, Head, 24, has taken part in 39 ODIs and 16 T20Is.

The two are also old hands in first class cricket. Finch has scored 4,338 runs in 76 games at an average of 36.15. He has also scored seven centuries and 27 half-centuries with a best of 288 not out.

Head, on the other hand, has 70 first class games under his belt in which he has hit 4,591 runs at an average of 36.43. He has also scored seven centuries and 30 half-centuries with a best of 192.

Head was in India recently as part of Australia A squad that first took part in a quadrangular series involving South Africa A, India A and India B. That series was followed by two unofficial four-day Tests against India A in Bengaluru where he scored two half-centuries, including a match-winning knock of 87 after coming in to bat at No 3.

“There was never any doubt over those two for me, I thought they were certainties to play,” Langer said of Head and Finch.

Australia will play a short limited overs series against South Africa following the conclusion of the UAE tour. India will head straight Down Under in November following the series against the Windies.