Pujara dropped; Sanju in ODI squad for West Indies tour

Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara may well have played his final game for India. File photo: AFP/Money Sharma

India have dropped top order batter Cheteshwar Pujara for the two-Test tour of the West Indies in July while Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal made the cut after stellar campaigns in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Pujara, a veteran of over 100 Tests, was dropped following a poor run of form after the 35-year-old scored only 211 runs in his last six matches with one half-century to his name. His absence leaves a spot vacant for the likes of Gaikwad or Jaiswal to step into should Shubman Gill continue to open the batting.

Jaiswal, who scored the fastest IPL fifty off 13 balls, scored 625 runs during the two-month tournament to finish among the top five run-getters while Gaikwad finished with 590 runs.

Gaikwad also made headlines in November when he hammered seven sixes in an over in a first class match for his team Maharashtra.

Ajinkya Rahane, India's top scorer in the World Test Championship final loss to Australia, has also retained his place after he returned to the squad for the one-off match at The Oval in London and will be the vice-captain.

The Caribbean tour commences with the first Test from July 12-16 in Dominica. The second Test will be played in Trinidad from July 20-24.

India also announced the One-Day International (ODI) squad for a three-match series in Barbados and Trinidad while the squad for five Twenty20 matches will be announced at a later date.

Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson has been picked in the ODI squad.

Test squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), K S Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.

ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-capt), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.

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