India vs West Indies: Meet the new opening partner of KL Rahul

India announce the 12 member squad for the first Test 

Team India has announced the squad for the first Test against West Indies which begins on October 04 at Rajkot. The 12-man squad features the name of Prithvi Shaw which means the young opener is set to open the innings with KL Rahul.

Young @PrithviShaw is all set to make his Test debut tomorrow at Rajkot. How well does he time the ball? ???? #TeamIndia #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/5LLvl7GKkQ

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 3, 2018

The squad announced by BCCI includes six batsmen and five bowlers. KL Rahul will open the innings with Prithvi Shaw while Mayank Agarwal, the third opener India selected for this series will be warming the benches.

18-year old Shaw to make Test debut

Prithvi Shaw who is regarded highly by former cricketers and analysts will become the 293rd player to represent India in Tests. The Mumbai batsman has remained in limelight since he started playing school cricket and has achieved several laurels.

Prithvi Shaw who is all set to make his Test debut tomorrow at Rajkot @ 18 yrs-329d will become India's second youngest opener after Vijay Mehra, who was 17-265d at Bombay's Brabourne Stadium against the Kiwis in Dec 1955.#INDvWI

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 3, 2018

In 2014, he scored 546 runs which was the highest score in school cricket. He then made a hundred on his Ranji debut and was the captain of India’s U-19 team that won the world cup. He was also effective at the top of the order for Delhi Daredevils in IPL.

Also read: Anil Kumble reveals his favourite Indian captain,and its not Ganguly 

In the recent times, Shaw did exceptionally well for India A. He scored two centuries against West Indies A and one century against South Africa A.

Three seamers or three spinners?

The only decision India have to make ahead of the first Test is whether to field three seamers or three spinners. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin will be India’s primary spin duo while Kuldeep Yadav can step in as the third spinner.

India have selected three pacers for the first Test including Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur. If Kuldeep is selected then Shardul Thakur will be India’s 12th man otherwise the Mumbai pace bowler too will make his Test debut along with Shaw.

India’s squad for the first Test- KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur.