IND vs WI: Shubman Gill clears intention ahead of series opener, says 'looking to play some hard, grinding cricket'

India captain Shubman Gill has cleared his side’s intention as they step up to start their home World Test Championship (WTC) campaign against the West Indies on Thursday (Sep 2). Gill, who returned from Dubai on Monday as part of the Asia Cup 2025 winning squad, will be leading India in the Test format in less than 72 hours. Ahead of the series opener, he stated, his side is looking to play hard and grind out cricket.

Gill clears intention ahead of West Indies series opener

"We are looking to play some hard, grinding cricket. Over the past few years, if you see the Test matches, they haven't got to five days. So what we are looking to do is play some good, hard cricket," Gill said at a press conference. "All the Test matches that we played in England went pretty deep [all five Tests went into the fifth day]. And I think what you can expect from us is good, hard, grinding cricket and we won't be looking for any easy options.”

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Just 12 months ago, India completed their home Test series campaign on a losing spree as they were edged out by New Zealand 3-0. The humiliating series loss on home turf saw India pay a huge price as they would go on to miss the WTC final.

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Now, under the captaincy of Gill, India will be looking to make their mark, having already shown great fight in the five-match Test series against England. India drew the series 2-2, starting the new WTC cycle with considerable success.

The India vs West Indies first Test match will start at 9:30 AM IST, with the toss taking place 30 minutes before the start.

India squad for West Indies series

Shubman Gill (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, N. Jagadeesan (WK), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.

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