3 Players who can cement their place in India's Test side

India announced a 15-man squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against West Indies, which will begin from October 4.

The first match will be played at Saurashtra Cricket Association, Rajkot on October 4 and the second match will be played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on October 12.

This will be the final showdown for Virat Kohli and Co. before heading to Australia.

The squad includes young stars like Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. They have been selected on the basis of their performances for the second string Indian cricket team i.e., for India 'A'.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested due to the workload. Meanwhile, the biggest takeaway from this squad is the exclusion of the most established opening pair Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay.

They've had a very regretful England tour, despite getting ample chances they couldn't make the most of it and faced backlash on the tour to England as well as South Africa. And, this indicates that this could be the end of Dhawan and Vijay in Test cricket. There are many players who can cement their place in the Indian Test side.

Let us take a look at three Players who can cement their place in India's Test side.

---

#3 Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has been in a red-hot form for India 'A' and made runs consistently throughout the season. He scored 236 runs in four games at an average of 59 in quadrangular series which was played earlier this year, including one hundred and a fifty. Also, he was India A’s highest run-scorer, as well as the second highest run-scorer overall, in the tri-series in England as he notched 287 runs in four games at an average of 71.75, including two centuries. Recently, he played an innings of 90 runs for Board President's XI in a practice match against West Indies in Vadodara.

Mayank finally got his maiden call-up for the Test side and will be looking forward to continuing the same form as he showed for India 'A'. The question is with whom he will open? Prithvi Shaw or KL Rahul?

#2 Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw

Similarly, Prithvi Shaw has been consistent throughout his season for India 'A' and he also called up to the Indian squad against England for the last two Tests, though he didn't get a chance to play in any of the games.

He had already replaced Murali Vijay in Tests when he was called up for England in place Vijay. So, will he make it to the playing XI this time against West Indies?

#1 Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant making his mark in the Test Cricket

On his debut tour to England, he became the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a century in England. Though he was unable to give is best behind the wickets but he had a fairytale debut with his bat by hitting a century. He is given another chance against West Indies to make his mark as a permanent wicketkeeper-batsman for the Indian Test side.