Ravindra Jadeja has been appointed vice-captain for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies as India announced a 15-member squad for the two-match contest. He replaces Rishabh Pant, who is still recovering from the foot injury sustained during the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Jadeja produced one of the most remarkable all-round performances of his career during India’s Test series in England. With the bat, he scored a staggering 516 runs across 10 innings, averaging an extraordinary 86.00, placing him fourth amongst the series’ top run-scorers behind Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and Joe Root.
He registered six half-centuries in the series, becoming the first player to achieve six fifties in an India-England Test series. Additionally, Jadeja set a new record for an Indian batsman at No. 6 or lower in a Test series, with his 516 runs now the highest ever in that position.
Even more impressively, his second-innings average across the series was 315.00, ranking amongst the highest ever recorded for a Test series. As a bowler, he contributed 7 wickets at an economy rate of 3.56, including a four-wicket haul in the Manchester Test.
One of the most memorable moments of the series came in that same Manchester Test, where Jadeja scored an unbeaten 107 in a gritty rearguard partnership with Washington Sundar to secure a hard-fought draw.
India will open the series on October 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with the second Test scheduled from October 10 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Shubman Gill’s India are currently third on the table with 28 points and a points percentage of 46.67, following their 2-2 drawn Test series against England.
Shubman Gill (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, N Jagadeesan (WK), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.
Source: India Today