Indian captain Virat Kohli and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah are all set to be rested for the limited overs series in the West Indies tour which follows the ongoing cricket World Cup. They, however, will be back for the two Test matches, which will be a part of the proposed ICC Test Championship.
"Virat and Jasprit will certainly be rested for the three-match T20Is and three-match ODI series. Virat has been playing since the start of Australia series and Bumrah's workload management is also paramount. They will join the team before the Test series," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Also, there are reports that other players who are in the World Cup squad could be rested for the ODI leg. India have been in rampant form in the World Cup and are all but confirmed of a semi-final berth. If India do make it to the finals which will be held on July 14, the workload management of all the players becomes a serious cause of concern as they have constantly been on the field after the IPL and now the World Cup.
BCCI tweaked the schedule and pushed the Test series to after the ODIs and T20Is
Owing to this, the BCCI tweaked the itinerary in consultation with Cricket West Indies - the Test matches which were earlier kick-starting the tour has been pushed to after the ODIs and T20Is in order to rest and rotate players.
"With the first Test in Antigua starting on August 22, there would be enough time for the key members in the World Cup squad to get much-needed rest," the official further added.
Many young Test players which include Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari will already be in West Indies with the India-A side and this offers great flexibility to the selectors.
Also, with the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held next year, the selectors will be keen to identify a pool of players for the competition, and this series against West Indies could be the beginning of the cycle.
Few like Krunal Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Chahar, Sanju Samson are going to be tried out in the T20 version.
In the three-match T20 series, the first two games will be played at Fort Lauderhill in Florida on August 3 and 4.
