Kraigg Brathwaite the former captain, didn’t make the 15-man West Indies squad to face India in a two-Test series next month. Instead, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze are back in the mix.
The West Indies will play two Tests against India. The first is October 2-6 in Ahmedabad and the second October 10-14 in New Delhi. These are their first away games in the current World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. Roston Chase will lead the team with Jomel Warrican as his deputy. In a surprise move, Khary Pierre, a 33-year-old all-rounder, got his first ever Test call-up.
Brathwaite, 32, led the West Indies when they last toured India in 2018 but stepped down as captain in March this year. His exclusion from the squad comes after a string of low scores against Australia in their recent three-Test series at home. He scored 4, 4, 0 and 7 in the first two Tests and was dropped from the third. Despite that setback, Brathwaite achieved a milestone in the second Test at Grenada, becoming only the 10th West Indies player to play 100 Tests.
Cricket West Indies said on their website that Chanderpaul and Athanaze are joining the team to bolster the top-order batting. Pierre’s inclusion as the second specialist spinner comes after his good showing in the West Indies Championship where he took 41 wickets at 13.56.
According to the website, selectors decided to rest Gudakesh Motie for this series to manage his workload especially with the ICC T20 World Cup coming up in February and March next year.
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Daren Sammy, the former captain and head coach, commented on the selections. He said bringing back Tagenarine Chanderpaul should help improve the team’s batting at the top of the order which has been a struggle lately. He added that Alick Athanaze was picked because of his skills against spin bowling. Sammy also said Khary Pierre’s inclusion as the second spinner is based on the expectation of good spin friendly conditions.They will arrive in Ahmedabad on September 24 after departing the Caribbean on September 22.
West Indies Announce Squad:
Roston Chase (Captain), Jomel Warrican (Vice Captain), Kevlon Anderson, Alick Athanaze, John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope (Wicket-keeper), Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Jayden Seales.
