Once a regular member of the Indian Test side, especially on away tours, middle order batter Hanuma Vihari is not a part of the side that will be playing on the West Indies Tour. Known for his gritty display, the 29-year-old Vihari has been part of 16 Tests. His last match in India colours came in July, 2022 in the one-off Test at Birmingham against England. Since then, Vihari has been overlooked in the Test side. He has now opened up on being dropped.
"Definitely, there was disappointment," Vihari told The Indian Express.
"I didn't find a reason why I was dropped and it was the only thing that was bothering me. Nobody really contacted me and told me the reasons why I was dropped. It took some time and I have gone through ups and downs and I'm not worried about it now. I've put aside my personal side of things and I don't take too much stress about whether I'm in the Indian team or not. There are other matches to win and it is about winning the trophies."
Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that he would have a new opening partner in the first Test of the two-match series against West Indies that begins in Dominica on Wednesday. India will select a new opening combination in their first Test of the ICC World Test Championship 2023–25 cycle, with the skipper expected to be joined by 21-year-old left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Jaiswal enjoyed a successful year of white-ball cricket, hitting 625 runs in the 2023 IPL with an average of 48 and a strike rate of 163.61 while averaging over 80 in his first 26 First Class innings. Jaiswal also enjoyed a successful year of red-ball cricket, making 265 in the second innings of the Duleep Trophy Final last year.
In order to fill the spot left by Cheteshwar Pujara, who wasn't selected for this trip, Rohit's current partner Shubman Gill will go down to No. 3, according to the India captain.
"Gill will play at number 3 because Gill himself wants to play at number 3," Rohit said in a pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test on Wednesday.
"He discussed with Rahul (Dravid) that I have played all my cricket at 3 and 4. I think I can do better for my team if I bat at number 3. And it is good for us too because it becomes an opening combination of left and right," said the India skipper.
"So I think we will try to do this and hopefully this will go on for a long time. Because we have been looking for a left-hander for many years. So now that we have got that left-hander, let's hope he performs well for the team. And he can really make that spot his own," Rohit added.
With ANI inputs
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