Why Karun Nair was dropped from the Test team against West Indies: Selection Committee Chairman Ajit Agarkar explained why Karun Nair was dropped from the Indian team for the two-match Test series against the West Indies. The BCCI announced a 15-member squad, with Shubman Gill as captain and Ravindra Jadeja as vice-captain.
Agarkar said the team expected better performance from Nair, but despite being given a chance in the Anderson-Trayner Trophy 2025, he failed to live up to expectations.
Notably, the right-handed batsman played in several different positions for India in this series, scoring only 205 runs at an average of 25. He further stated that Devdutt Padikkal was selected due to his excellent performance in the India A series, as he provides more stability and consistency to the batting line-up.
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Devdutt Padikkal is a better option at this time: Agarkar
“To be honest, we expected a little more from him. He played four Test matches, but we only talked about one innings. That’s how it is. We feel we need better performances right now.”
“We feel Padikkal is a better option right now, and we wish we could have given everyone a chance to play 15 or 20 Test matches. But that’s not the case. Padikkal was in the Test team, he went to Australia, played against Australia, played against England in Dharamsala, scored 50 runs. He also performed well for India A,” Agarkar said while naming India’s squad at a press conference.
The chief selector also discussed the omission of Abhimanyu Easwaran from the squad. He said that India doesn’t need another opener at the moment. He stressed that the team has enough options with two openers for this series.
Agarkar said, “Regarding Abhimanyu, we don’t need a third opener for the home series.”
India’s squad for the West Indies series:
Shubman Gill (captain), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Narayan Jagadeesan
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