Shubman Gill And Gautam Gambhir Face New Challenge In IND vs WI 1st Test, India Look To Safeguard 30-Year-Old Record

Shubman Gill's India are taking on Roston Chase's West Indies in a two-match Test series. This is the first time that Shubman Gill will be captaining the young Indian side on home soil. A lot has changed after New Zealand toured and clean swept India in 2024. The seniors and the stalwarts of the Indian cricket team retired earlier this year and things now boil down to how Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir want to manage this team.

West Indies Winless in India for 31 Years

This is the first time in over 12 years that India will walk out to play a home Test match without having the services of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Cheteshwar Pujara in the longest format of the game. The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy marked the dawn of the Shubman Gill era and India ended up playing a 2-2 draw against Ben Stokes' settled side.

The two matches against West Indies are crucial to India's hopes of playing the World Test Championship (WTC) 2027 finals. Both the Test matches of this series are a part of the ongoing WTC cycle. The last time West Indies played in India was in 2018 and they had lost the series 2-0. India have dominated the West Indies on home soil. Out of the 25 Test matches that these two teams played against each other in the subcontinent, India have won 15 and the remaining 10 ended up being a draw.

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West Indies' last win against India in a Test match came in 2002 in Kingston when they won by 155 runs. Interestingly, West Indies haven't defeated India in India since 1994. The Caribbean side had defeated India by 243 runs in December 1994 in a match that was played in Mohali.

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Roston Chase's West Indies Look to Stun India

The Caribbean side led by Roston Chase hasn't had a great run in Test matches recently. West Indies were defeated 0-3 at home by Pat Cummins' Australia, which also included a 27 all-out in a pink ball Test match. West Indies start the series as dark horses, but they might look to upset India in their own backyard.