India squad for West Indies ODIs, LIVE Updates: Farewell for Ajit Agarkar, but Rohit Sharma the one in search of a gift

In the current FTP, India have 17 matches left, with more to be added when the new list comes out.

- Three matches vs West Indies (September-October, 2026)

- Five matches vs New Zealand (November-December, 20206)

- Three matches vs Sri Lanka (December, 2026)

- Three matches vs Zimbabwe (January, 2026)

India squad announcement LIVE: With a lack of pacers to fall back on, will Mohammed Shami be on the selectors’ radar? Your guess is as good as ours. It would be a huge surprise if Shami finds a place in India’s 15. With the squad being built around the 2027 World Cup, it is difficult to see the selectors turning to someone who last played an ODI for India more than a year ago, during the Champions Trophy. Shami has been India’s go-to bowler in ICC tournaments. He was India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the 2019 World Cup and topped the charts in the 2023 edition at home with 24 wickets. But Indian cricket waits for no one. At 36, that ship could well have sailed.

Amid the squad selection, the former two-time World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh has cautioned the Indian team against making too many changes ahead of the 2027 World Cup. The showpiece ICC event is a little over a year away in South Africa, and the last time India made significant tweaks close to a World Cup was in 2019, when all hell broke loose over the No. 4 conundrum. India stuck to its core in the 2023 edition and enjoyed immense success. Four years later, with another World Cup approaching, continuity could once again be key to India’s preparations.

So what if Rohit Sharma gets picked? So what if he even scores runs? So what? Rohit’s real test lies after the three matches against the West Indies, when India travel to New Zealand to play five ODIs. New Zealand is a country where India don't have a great record in 50-over cricket anyway. Although India clinched the ODI series 4-1 in 2019 ahead of the World Cup in England that year, they trail New Zealand 14-26 in ODIs played there. The last time they toured New Zealand, India were blanked 3-0 in the ODIs.

One bad series, and it could put Rohit’s place under serious scrutiny. The encouraging bit for Rohit is that he has a decent record in New Zealand, having scored 437 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.4 with four half-centuries.

Mainly five. The Rohit Sharma quandary. Hardik Pandya’s fitness. The fight for the wicketkeeper’s slot. The pace battery. The rest takes care of itself. Captain Shubman Gill will open the innings. Just with whom remains to be seen. Will it be Jaiswal or Rohit? Virat Kohli returns to take up the No. 3 slot. Ravindra Jadeja could be the all-rounder.

And oh, a fifth question would be spin. Will Kuldeep get his chance? Read on for our full preview of today’s selection meeting.

With two frontline pacers - Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh - touring Japan for the Asian Games, India need strong back-up in the pace attack. Harshit Rana has been ruled out, making his availability unlikely and leaving very few options. Mohammed Siraj is one. Prasidh Krishna is two. Gurnoor Brar and Prince Yadav could be three and four. That still leaves room for an experienced candidate. Could the BCCI be inclined towards bringing Bhuvneshwar Kumar back? Because the selectors seem to have clearly moved on from Mohammed Shami. Hardik’s availability would solve India’s third-pace option, but he too needs a fitness clearance before that move can materialise.

Rohit Sharma has found himself in choppy waters ever since he was removed as India’s ODI captain. After lifting the Champions Trophy 2025, Rohit was away from competitive cricket for six months, during which he worked on his fitness and lost plenty of weight, appearing almost unrecognisable. However, once he was replaced by Shubman Gill as India’s captain, his game appeared to change as well. Despite that, he scored a fifty and a century in two of the three ODIs in Australia, and looked in fine nick against South Africa as well.

However, after three low scores against New Zealand and a 283-run season in the IPL, during which he suffered a hamstring injury, things began to fall apart. With scores of 16, 48 and 79, Rohit secured his place in the squad for the England ODIs, but after two failures in Birmingham and Cardiff, an explosive news report broke. Agarkar reportedly told Rohit that the selection committee was not considering him for India’s 2027 World Cup plans.

In the very next game at Lord’s, though, Rohit scored a century, becoming the only Indian ODI player to hit a hundred at the Home of Cricket. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia subsequently quashed those rumours, saying Rohit firmly remains an integral part of India’s ODI plans, and reaffirmed that stance a few days ago as well. Rohit is 39. He will be 40 if he plays the World Cup. The selection committee remains adamant that Yashasvi Jaiswal deserves opportunities heading into the World Cup. But even if a 40-year-old keeps scoring runs, what possible justification is there for dropping him? After all, as the old adage goes, age is just a number, right?

With KL Rahul expected to be India’s first choice wicketkeeper, the race for the second option heats up. Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson are part of the Asian Games line-up, which leaves the think tank with two candidates: Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel. Jurel is a young rising star, but Pant is not yesterday’s news either. Yes, he has not been part of the ODI set-up for two years, but an opportunity could come knocking. Jurel recently scored a century and a fifty in the Test series in Sri Lanka, and his competition with Pant, who has already established himself as something of a legend in Test cricket, will be fierce.

Hardik Pandya has not been available for competitive cricket since the 2026 IPL. After yet another disappointing outing for the Mumbai Indians, India’s premier all-rounder has been struggling for fitness. The fact that he has now gone almost four months without any form of competitive cricket will surely raise the question of whether ring rust will play a factor. He was named in the India A squad for a home series against Australia A in October, subject to fitness clearance, which makes it all the more likely that the BCCI may not be in a hurry to rush him back. In case you missed it, Hardik first suffered a back injury during the IPL, followed by a leg injury that he sustained just before the Afghanistan series in June.

India squad announcement Live: It is quite possible. India are inching closer to the 2027 World Cup, and bringing in a new chairman of selectors could disrupt the planning that has been taking shape. If a Sportstar report is to be believed, an extension is highly likely for Agarkar, with discussions between the BCCI and the former India all-rounder heading in a positive direction. Under BCCI regulations, although Agarkar’s tenure in the post ends this month, he is eligible to continue for another year.

What’s your say? Do you want to see Agarkar continue?

India squad announcement Live: Ajit Agarkar’s tenure as the BCCI’s chairman of selectors ends this month. Hence, unless he is given an extension, the status of which remains unknown, this will be the last team selection he oversees. Agarkar took over the post in July of 2023, and throughout his tenure, the former India all-rounder made several bold calls, most of which worked wonders, while some did not quite have the desired impact. However, with India winning three ICC trophies during his tenure, including two T20 World Cups and one Champions Trophy, Agarkar can look back on his time as chairman of selectors with a significant list of achievements.

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