India announced an unchanged squad for the second Test in Hyderabad against the West Indies, meaning Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Siraj will have to wait to make their debuts.
Virat Kohli will lead the side as the Indian management want to give a long rope to KL Rahul. This is also an opportunity for Ajinkya Rahane to step up and play an innings of note before the team for the Australian tour is announced.
Team has to guard against complacency
"With these two (Holder and Roach) back in the side, they are a lot more experienced. After losing the first Test, we are aware they will come hard at us but we have plans in places as well," Arun had said which had given ample hint that the team was willing to go in with the same team.
The biggest test for this Indian team would be to guard against complacency, more so after their dominant performance in the first Test match.
There are still a few questions to be answered and the fact that this remains the last Test before the team flies across to Australia, the selectors will be keeping a keen eye on the form of few players.
Speaking about the form of Ajinkya Rahane, Arun said that they are not really worried and that the batsman is in good shape.
"He is in pretty good shape and if you look at the overseas record, Rahane is probably one of the best, just a question of going out there and performing. He has got everything in him to do well at any given point of time," he said.
However, there is bound to be another school of thought which would have given an opportunity to young faces to prove their worth before the Australian series. Clearly, the team management has moved on from Shikhar Dhawan as far a red ball cricket is concerned, and hence, giving a go to Mayank Agarwal would not have been such a bad idea.
The 12-member squad: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, and Shardul Thakur
