Debuts likely for Sinclair, McKenzie as West Indies eye fightback against India

Team news

With Raymon Reifer out of the squad, left-hand batter Kirk McKenzie could be in line for a debut. West Indies may also be tempted to bring in Shannon Gabriel for either Jomel Warrican or Rahkeem Cornwall.

Meanwhile, uncapped off-spin-bowling allrounder Kevin Sinclair will be as a like-for-like replacement for Cornwall, who is yet to recover from his chest infection fully.

Pitch and conditions

While the Queen’s Park Oval has not hosted a Test since 2018, fast bowlers have always enjoyed the conditions here, registering a much better average (27.39) and strike rate (61.0) as compared to spinners (36.57 and 88.7). Rain is forecast on all five days of the Test, though.

FULL SQUAD: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain), Alick Athanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kirk McKenzie, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Jomel Warrican

Traveling Reserves: Tevin Imlach, Akeem Jordan

India’s Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.