India vs West Indies 2018: 5 Indian players to look out for in the Test series

The 2-match Test series between India and The West Indies is just about to commence in few days times, and there have been a lots questions asked regarding the selection and omission of several players in the Indian team.

There are plenty of fresh faces in the Indian squad, and the visitors too have brought in an inexperienced team to face the No.1 Test team in the world led by Virat Kohli. While the core players select themselves, there are still questions on who will open with KL Rahul in the first match of the series. Will it be the prodigy Prithvi Shaw, or the ever consistent Mayank Agarwal. Either way, these are exciting and testing times for Indian Cricket as they are looking past Murali Vijay, and Shikhar Dhawan in the red ball Cricket.

While all this has been, we will look at the 5 Indian players who make the series their own.

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#5 Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja found a fresh lease of life when he got picked for the Asia Cup on the back of his good performances in the final Test match against England. He got his mojo back with the bat and chipped in with few useful knocks in the Asia Cup.

With the surfaces in India assisting spinners, Jadeja is deadly dangerous with the ball and a game changer with the bat on his day. With Ashwin back to full fitness, one can expect them to rattle the West Indies batting order who are weak against spin.

#4 Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara was back in full flow in the England tour.

Chesteshwar Pujara's performance outside the subcontinent and his slow striking rate have been a cause of worry for the team management, but he responded them with a glorious century in the fourth Test of the series against the English.

Pujara is on the verge of crossing 5000 runs in Test Cricket, and his record against the West Indies is outstanding. So, one can expect him to deliver in the home conditions as his stats speak for himself.

With a relatively inexperienced top order, Pujara has to stand tall and guide the two youngsters if they get a chance to play in the tour. He needs to bring his A-game to plate before the all-important Australia tour, and this will be a perfect rehearsal of sorts.

#3 Ajinkya Rahane

The old Rahane is all that India wants.

There will be no better pleasant sight than watching Ajinkya Rahane batting in full flow, but his form for the last few years have been disappointing for a great talent like him. Rahane was once called as India's best overseas batsman, but the Indian Vice-Captain failed to deliver in the last two foreign tours that India played.

Time is running out for Rahane, and he needs to give the management some sort of confidence ahead of the Australia tour or else he could end up like Vijay and Dhawan. This could be the perfect chance for him to stake a claim in the World Cup squad since the No 4 slot is still yet to be sealed by a particular individual player as his own.

His record in the home conditions has been surprisingly abysmal, and he will look to change that in this series against West Indies. He has to repay the faith that the selectors have bestowed upon him and start a purple patch that he desperately needs.

#2 Ravichandran Ashwin

The Chennai tweaker.

Ravichandran Ashwin will be up against one of his favourite opponents. While his bowling record against any team is simply amazing, all of his 4 Test centuries have come up against the West Indies, and he will look to add more to that number if possible.

Ashwin was criticized for his poor performances outside the subcontinent and rightly so. Even in England, he started the tour off well but struggled with form, and fitness as the series progressed. The again fit Ashwin will get his hands full in his territory, and along with Jadeja, he is a force to be reckoned with.

With Australia not so long far, this will perfect place for him to fine tune himself and get back into the groove.

#1 Virat Kohli

Best in the world at what he does.

The only constant in everyone's list will be Virat Kohli. After a much-needed rest, Virat will be returning to lead India for this short Test series before playing the shorter formats of the game. He has taken his game to a whole new level, and his consistency is completely out of the world. He keeps on working on his game, and fitness.

Like Ashwin, Virat also enjoys playing against Windies as he scored his first double ton against them, and never looked back since then. As a captain he is proactive, but he somehow manages to slip the game from a dominating position particularly overseas.

Australia tour will be a perfect opportunity to correct himself in that regard, but at the same time, he will look to dominate the Windies bowling and end up as the leading run scorer again.