India vs West Indies: Will India's Asian Games captain Ruturaj Gaikwad debut in second Test?

India are set to take on West Indies in the second and final Test at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad from Thursday, July 20. The Rohit Sharma-led team won the first Test in Dominica by an innings and 141-run margin.

Yashasvi Jaiswal made his debut and scored 171 runs off 387 balls to get the Man of the Match award in his first-ever match for India. Later, Ashwin picked 12 wickets to steamroll hosts West Indies and take an unassailable 1-0 lead.

With a 2-0 whitewash on the line against a very vulnerable West Indies side, will India look to give the debut cap to Ruturaj Gaikwad as well on the tour? Gaikwad was first named in the standby list for the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2023. However, he could not travel with the team because of his marriage.

Jaiswal was sent to England as his replacement. Both Jaiswal and Gaikwad were named in the Indian squad for the West Indies Tests after the WTC final defeat and firing of senior batter Cheteshwar Pujara from the team.

Will Ruturaj Gaikwad debut in second Test vs West Indies?

No. The chances of the right-hander batter making his Test debut is highly unlikely. Rohit Sharma and Jaiswal are certain of opening and Shubman Gill has already been given his favourite number three spot. Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane who has made a cracking comeback recently, occupy the fourth and fifth spots respectively.

Then there is wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur. India literally bats as deep as number nine.

India did brilliantly well in the first Test and won by a big margin. Making many changes in a 2-match series is rare anyways. Captain Rohit has also confirmed that there would be no "drastic changes" in the India playing eleven for the second Test.

Even if there is, it will be in the bowling department. The batting group picks itself for the time being. 26-year-old Gaikwad will have to wait for his Test debut.