4 Indian players who might make their Test debuts against West Indies

Team India will face West Indies in a two-match Test series starting on October 4 at Rajkot. After a gruelling five-match Test series against England (India lost 1-4), Team India will be looking to continue their dominance in the five-day contest. With the Australian tour beckoning later this year, India might test their bench strength against Jason Holder's men.

The Indian squad for the series is sure to contain many new faces for whom this might be an opportunity to cement their place in Test XI. After the Rajkot Test, the caravan moves to Hyderabad for the second and final Test match of this series. Let us now look at four players who might make their Test debuts against West Indies.

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Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal's name has been doing the rounds in the Indian cricketing circle for quite some time. Piling on runs at ease, he registered his first triple ton in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy against Maharashtra and went onto finish the domestic season with 2141 runs. The Karnataka batsman has been a part of India A squad in recent years, scoring heavily in almost every match.

Apart from a masterful 220 at his home ground- Bengaluru against South Africa A, he made valuable contributions with the bat earlier this month against Australia A (47 and 80). It is still surprising that even after scoring tons of runs at the domestic level, he is yet to play a game for the Indian senior team. With the Australian tour beckoning, Mayank might be given his much-deserved chance in the two-match Test series against West Indies to strengthen the Indian batting line-up before they tour Down Under.

Mohammad Siraj

Mohammad Siraj

The 24-year-old Hyderabad lad made his First-class debut three years ago against Services in the Ranji Trophy. Since then, there has been no looking back for the lanky right-arm medium-fast bowler, who has taken 97 wickets in 20 First class matches. A good run at the 2017 IPL (ten wickets in six matches), announced himself to the cricketing fraternity and he followed it up with another decent outing this season. Currently, he is in a red-hot form with loads of wickets under his belt playing for India A.

Eight wickets against West Indies A, seven against England Lions, fourteen against South Africa A and eleven against Australia A. With Ishant Sharma remaining doubtful, India won't take any risks by picking him in the XI. With the gruelling Australian set to begin later this year, Shami might be rested as he has played the major part of the five-match series against England to keep him ready for the Australia tour.

With Bhuvneshwar Kumar making his comeback during the Asia Cup, Shami might not make the squad. Thereby, we might expect the fiery Siraj to earn his India cap soon.

Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw

The 2018 ICC Under 19 winning World Cup-winning captain has had a wonderful 2018 so far. Starting off the year on a high after guiding the Indian colts to the title in New Zealand, Shaw's sublime touch with the bat continued in the IPL and afterwards. The youngster earned his maiden call-up to the Indian national squad for the last two Test matches of the five-match series but did not get an opportunity to open the innings. The Mumbai-batsman has scores of 188, 62, 136 in his last three first-class games.

Shaw has amassed 1418 runs in 14 First-class matches so far, at an average of 56.72 with his highest score being 188. Though Shikhar Dhawan is back to form with his Asia Cup heroics, the team management might be tempted to field Shaw so that he might get exposed to the hardships of the five-day game.

This might provide an extra slot in the opening for Team India during the Australian tour. This is the right time for Shaw to stamp his excellence in the Tests especially against the pretty inexperienced West Indies side.

Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal

A regular fixture in the Indian limited-overs squad, Chahal is yet to make Test debut for Team India. Having played 30 ODIs and 26 T20Is, Chahal has established himself as a prominent fixture in the Indian team- thanks to his consistency with the white ball. In 29 First class matches, the Haryana leg-spinner has taken 74 wickets with his best figures being 6/44.

With a good international experience, Chahal might be preferred ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin for the two-Test series. Playing Ashwin, who remains doubtful will be risky as he is an important prospect keeping in mind the Australian tour. After a tough England tour, Ashwin needs a break and this might well augur to Chahal to get his Test cap against the West Indies.