India are all set to host West Indies for a two-match Test series, with the first game all set to commence at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday, October 02.If the India-West Indies series, starting tomorrow (October 2) in Ahmedabad, were to be played in a game of chess, it would be a contest with more to lose than to gain for the home side. For a higher-rated Elo player, victory over a lower-rated opponent normally brings little reward – and the returns are even more negligible when the gulf between them is huge in chess.
Theoretically and practically, the gap in quality between the sides is enormous, with the state of West Indies cricket raising global concerns. Their last pink-ball outing had ended in a debacle (27 all out), while recent white-ball performances were humbling experiences (against Nepal). The red-ball scenario is unlikely to be any better, although skipper Roston Chase insists that he leads a different bunch.
IND vs WI : Previous Performances
Team India skipper Shubman Gill for the first time will lead a team at home. Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been handed the vice-captain duties, while Rishabh Pant’s injury has opened the door for wicketkeepers Dhruv Jurel and N Jagadeesan. India’s pace attack will be spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna.
While Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Sai Sudharsan are expected to shoulder the batting responsibilities. The spin department will be headed by Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar, joining Jadeja. Notably, this is India’s first home series after the historic series whitewash at the hands of New Zealand, and they would look to put that performance behind them and use the home conditions to their advantage. India are coming back on a good start with an epic 2-2 draw in Anderson Tendulkar Trophy in England.
On the Other Hand West Indies after a humiliation at the hand of Australia 3-0 and reching their lowest point in red ball history would look to challenge India with a better performance.
The West Indies have suffered twin setbacks with injuries to pacers Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph. Jayden Seales will lead their pace unit, while debutant Khary Pierre and spinner Jomel Warrican are set to play important roles. The return of Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze is set to add depth to their batting lineup, after the team came off a 3-0 whitewash in Australia.
Since their arrival in India, the West Indies have been harping about drawing inspiration from last year’s India-New Zealand series, in which Rohit Sharma’s side shockingly went down 0-3. In reality, however, that result was a rare aberration in India’s otherwise ruthless home record and dominance. Both teams will be keen to make a mark in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle. India currently sits third on the table with a 46.67% win rate, while the West Indies are sixth
IND vs WI : Head to Head
| Matches Played | 100 |
| India won | 23 |
| West Indies won | 30 |
| Draw | 47 |
| First Meeting | 10th to 14th November, 1948 |
| Last Meeting | 20th to 24th July, 2023 |
IND vs WI : Pitch and Weather Report
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is set to feature a red-soil surface with a noticeable green covering. As per reports, the curator has left a good layer of grass, which is expected to be trimmed down to 4-5mm before the toss. The surface is likely to help fast bowlers early on, providing seam movement and extra bounce, especially with the new ball. However, red-soil tracks could deteriorate steadily and bring spinners into play as the match progresses.
India begin this new home season on an unusually green pitch, with potentially 4-5mm of grass on it. Selections and toss decisions could come down to how much moisture it retains on the morning of the match. The teams will also keep a wary eye on the sky and the forecast, with Ahmedabad experiencing intermittent rain in the lead-up to the Test and with showers expected on day one.
IND vs WI : Big Picture : Pressure on Team India to annihilate West Indies after a disastrous WTC record at home in 2023-25.
Every home season brings the same expectations from India, but this one also brings a set of new anxieties. They’re about to play their first home Test since 0-3, their first home Test under Shubman Gill’s captaincy, and their first home Test since the retirements of R Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. An unusually green pitch in Ahmedabad adds another layer of anxiety, potentially magnifying the importance of the toss.
India’s anxieties, of course, pale in comparison to those of their opponents: injuries to key fast bowlers, the loss of a T20I series to Nepal (albeit with a second-string team that has no overlap with their Test squad), the emergency review of the team’s Test-match performances that followed 27 all out in Kingston, and the existential questions around the team’s future in the World Test Championship. West Indies can’t turn anywhere without fear of getting punched in the face.
But it could give them the license to throw a few punches of their own. Their captain Roston Chase put it simply on the eve of the Test match. “When you have nothing to lose, you can just go and play freely, because, I mean, everyone is expecting us to lose.”
Everyone expects West Indies to lose. Everyone expects India to win. Everyone always expects India to win at home. From the start of 2013 to roughly the same point last year, India kept meeting these expectations again and again and again.
Until they didn’t. Until New Zealand visited and won in a manner that showed just how much skill and effort it had taken for India to create and sustain the illusion of invincibility over such a long period. You might be the best team in the world, but you have to keep going out and proving it again and again, each time against a set of highly skilled athletes throwing a new set of challenges at you.
Man to man, in personnel terms, this Test in Ahmedabad looks like a mismatch. But it will begin with the scorecard reading 0 for 0, in conditions from which no one quite knows what to expect.
IND vs WI : Vital Stats that matters
- Since winning by 243 runs in Mohali in December 1994, West Indies have played 10 Tests against India in India, drawing two of them and losing the other eight.
- Roston Chase, Shai Hope and Jomel Warrican are the only members of West Indies’ squad who were part of their previous Test series against India in India, in 2018. All three of them, as well as John Campbell, also returned to India a year later for a one-off Test against Afghanistan in Lucknow.
- Ravindra Jadeja is 114 runs away from becoming only the fourth player in Test history to achieve the double of 4000 runs and 300 wickets. Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Daniel Vettori are the three allrounders presently in that club.
- John Campbell is six runs away from the 1000 mark in Test cricket.
- India had won 18 consecutive home Test series between 2012/13 and 2024/25 – a streak broken by NZ last year (0-3). The next best streak is 10 for Australia — twice — 1994/95 – 2000/01 & 2004 – 2008/09
- India and West Indies have contested in 10 bilateral series in the 21st century. WI won the five-match home series in 2002 by 2-1, while India won each of the next nine. WI haven’t defeated India in a Test post those two wins in that 2002 series.
IND vs WI : Team News
India :
With all players available, the hosts face a problem of plenty. Before the squad arrived, there was a plan to release Nitish Reddy for the India A or Rest of India game if he were not to be considered for the XI. That plan, seemingly, has now been cancelled, leaving India to consider using him as a third seamer alongside Bumrah and Siraj. Three of the four spinners in the squad are expected to make the XI, which means N Jagadeesan, Devdutt Padikkal, and Prasidh Krishna will warm the bench.
India, as always, kept their selection cards close to their chest on the eve of the match, but Gill suggested they are considering playing a third seamer given the greenness of this red-soil pitch in Ahmedabad. Does this mean a third frontline quick in Prasidh Krishna, or does it mean the allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy And what does it mean for the spin attack, and for Kuldeep Yadav
Predicted Playing XI for Team India : Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (C), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
West Indies :
Jediah Blades, who replaced Alzarri Joseph in West Indies’ squad, had not yet joined his team-mates in Ahmedabad by Wednesday. This means Seales will be partnered in their pace attack by Anderson Phillip and/or the uncapped Johann Layne, as well as the allrounder Justin Greaves. Khary Pierre could also make his debut at 34, as one of two left-arm fingerspinners alongside Jomel Warrican.
There are three changes from the squad which recently faced Australia, with the inclusions of Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze, along with a maiden Test call up for left-arm spinner Khary Pierre. But the two Josephs – Shamar and Alzarri – are ruled out of the series due to injuries and replacement Jediah Blades, a left-arm pacer is yet to arrive in Ahmedabad. The visitors have tricky selection calls to make.
Predicted Playing XI for Team West Indies : Alick Athanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kevlon Anderson, Brandon King, Roston Chase (c), Shai Hope, Justin Greaves, Jomel Warrican (vc), Jediah Blades, Khary Pierre, Jayden Seales
IND vs WI : Players in the Spotlight
The last time India went into a home Test without Ashwin was all the way back in November 2010. As good as their spin attack is even without him, India will only really know what his absence means when they actually deal with it. In this scenario, Ravindra Jadeja becomes even more important than he usually is, with ball, bat, and as a leader, and not just because he’s vice-captain for this series.
There is grass on the Ahmedabad pitch, but West Indies do not have Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph. They do, however, have one of the world’s best young fast-bowling talents in Jayden Seales, whose 88 Test wickets so far have come at the hugely impressive average of 22.32.
He’s quick, skillful, and bowls a fullish natural length that could bother India’s batters considerably if there’s any help available. If he gets on a roll, Seales has the potential to make the kind of impact that Suranga Lakmal did in Kolkata in 2017 or Matt Henry and Will O’Rourke did in Bengaluru last year.
IND vs WI : Match Prediction
India start as overwhelming favourites, even though Shubman Gill says he does not know how the match will pan out. The skipper’s dilemma centers on the surface, which remains an unknown quantity. “The last Test match that we played here was on a black soil. We are playing this one on red soil. So I am actually looking forward to seeing how the wicket is going to play over the next five days,” said Gill on the eve of the match.
With the West Indies having lost a couple of key bowlers – Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph – Roston Chase’s side arrives with a depleted attack, likely to be easy fodder for India’s mighty batting line-up. An Indian win is all but certain, but the question is how many days it will take, especially with a bit of moisture in the sky.
Also Read: ENG vs IND : Shubman Gill Appointed Test Skipper For Red Ball