West Indies bowler Joseph out of India tour with injury

West Indies suffered a major blow ahead of their tour of India on Friday when fast bowler Shamar Joseph was ruled out of the two-test series due to injury.

Uncapped fast bowling all-rounder Johann Layne would replace Joseph in the squad, Cricket West Indies (CWI) said in a statement.

“Joseph has been ruled out due to an injury and will be re-evaluated ahead of the Bangladesh limited-overs series,” the statement read.

The board did not specify the nature of the injury suffered by the 26-year-old, who played in the final of the Caribbean Premier League on Sunday.

Joseph was hailed as a new pace sensation after his international debut in 2023-24 when he bowled West Indies to their first test victory in Australia in 27 years — despite playing with a bruised toe.

West Indies arrived in India on Wednesday ahead of the series beginning in Ahmedabad on October 2.

The limited overs side face Bangladesh in three ODIs and three T20s from October 18 to November 1.

On the other hand, India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant will miss their test series against West Indies next month as he continues to recover from a foot injury, with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja taking over as vice-captain, the country’s cricket board said yesterday.

Rishabh Pant has been out of action since fracturing his foot during a test match against England in September. Dhruv Jurel, one of two specialist stumpers named in India’s 15-man squad, is set to don the gloves against West Indies.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar told reporters in Dubai that Jadeja was the obvious choice for vice-captain when Pant was ruled out.

“He has lots of experience. I don’t know about Pant’s injury timeline. But he will be hopefully back for South Africa series,” he added.

India, led by Shubman Gill, have packed their side with spin options including all-rounders Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel as well as left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Among the players who featured in the test series in England, batter Karun Nair and seamer Akash Deep have been dropped.

Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna will join Jasprit Bumrah in the pace attack, which also includes all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Bumrah, who played only three of the five tests in England to manage his workload, is currently part of the Indian side defending their Asia Cup title and Agarkar said the right-arm seamer was likely to play both test against West Indies.

“We’ve had a fair break after England. He didn’t play the fifth test either. So there’s been a five-week break,” Agarkar said.

Read More: ICC suspends USA Cricket over governance issues

“Even this tournament (Asia Cup) has been fairly spaced out till the last week. So he’s ready and keen to play both test matches.”

The first test begins on October 2 in Ahmedabad before the teams move to Delhi for the second and final match from October 10.

India’s test squad:

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