Overview

• The first of two Tests starts Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with toss scheduled for 9:00 am and play from 9:30 am local time.
• Gill said it is very important for India to perform in this series and called for hard, grinding cricket to rebound from recent setbacks.
• A greener-than-usual surface is in prospect, prompting selection calls between extra batting depth in Devdutt Padikkal or a seam-bowling all-rounder in Nitish Kumar Reddy, with Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav expected to lead spin.
• India will manage fast-bowler workloads on a match-by-match basis, with decisions on Jasprit Bumrah’s participation to be taken after each Test.
• West Indies arrive under-strength after poor recent red-ball form, sharpening India’s focus on banking home World Test Championship points.