IND vs WI: Head coach Agarkar wants no repeat of ‘New Zealand series result’ in 2025/26 home season
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "IND vs WI: Head coach Agarkar wants no repeat of ‘New Zealand series result’ in 2025/26 home season")
IND vs WI Agarkar wants no repeat of ‘New Zealand series result’ in home season Photograph: (AFP)
Following the last home Test series against New Zealand (wherein the Kiwis inflicted a 3-0 whitewash on the Asian heavyweights), head coach Ajit Agarkar admits he wants no repeat of that outcome as Team India gears up for the new home season.
The BCCI men’s selection committee named the 15-man squad for India’s two-match Test series against West Indies starting early next month. By picking all first-team players, the selectors indicated that they are serious about the World Test Championship (WTC) points. Moreover, following the last home Test series against New Zealand (wherein the Kiwis inflicted a 3-0 whitewash on the Asian heavyweights), head coach Ajit Agarkar admits he wants no repeat of that outcome as Team India gears up for the new home season.
Barring Rishabh Pant, who sits out due to an injury, all players, including newly-appointed Test captain Shubman Gill, ace seamer Jasprit Bumrah and star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, made it to the squad regardless of some being part of the ongoing Asia Cup tournament in the UAE.
Also read | 'We expected a little bit more..': Ajit Agarkar opens on THIS player's exclusion from Windies Test squad
Although pacer Mohammad Shami and triple-centurion Karun Nair failed to get a recall, Devdutt Padikkal returns to the Test side, with uncapped keeper-batter N Jagadeesan getting his second India call-up. KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj also retained their places as Team India ticked all boxes ahead of the bumper home season, including two Tests each against the West Indies and South Africa.
"Of course, because of the WTC [World Test Championship], every Test match becomes very important," Agarkar said. "Obviously, we had a terrible series against New Zealand. Maybe it was a wake-up call. It was a lesson. We don't want that repeated. We've generally been, over a long time, very strong at home. It was after a while that we had a few bad results. And we want to try and put it behind.
"All these four Test matches that we play at home, to West Indies and to South Africa, become very critical. We want to try and get as many points as possible, particularly at home. It's a game, so anything is possible. But we don't want to try and let what happened against New Zealand happen again,” he continued.
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NZ series did hurt India in many ways
Since losing the three-match home series to New Zealand, India’s Test cricket has gone downwards. While they lost to Australia (1-3) Down Under, India somehow saved themselves from embarrassment with a 2-2 series result in the UK after winning the final Test at the Oval.
Besides, India’s Test team lost three of its greatest servants during this phase, including two former captains, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and Test great Ravichandran Ashwin.
India’s Test squad for West Indies series –
Shubman Gill (captain), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), N. Jagadeesan (wk), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna
