India have named a 15-player squad for the upcoming two-match home Test series against West Indies, with Ravindra Jadeja being named vice-captain of the side. This is the first time Jadeja will serve as the vice-captain in the longest format; however, he has been vice-captain in ODIs and T20Is in the past. Notably, the likes of Karun Nair and Sarfaraz Khan were left out of the squad. Karun Nair’s omission had been expected following modest performance in England recently. Rishabh Pant failed to make the cut, as he hasn't completely recovered from a foot injury picked up in the Manchester Test during the England tour in July 2025.
Pant is currently recovering at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. Dhruv Jurel and N Jagadeesan have been drafted into the squad as the two specialist wicketkeepers.
Speaking on the exclusion of Karun Nair, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar stated, "We expected more from Karun. Padikkal offers a little bit more at this point. Wish we could give everyone 15-20 Tests, unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Padikkal was in the Test squad in Australia, played against England in Dharamsala, got a fifty there. He's shown some decent form. Frankly, we expected a bit more from Karun."
The two-match series begins in Ahmedabad, and the first Test will be held from October 2 to 6 before the action shifts to Delhi for the second Test from October 10 to 14.
India's squad for West Indies Tests: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vc), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, N Jagadeesan (wk)