India vs West Indies 1st ODI: Suryakumar Yadav dons Sanju Samson's jersey as Rohit Sharma drops Kerala star

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Indian Cricket Team have started their preparations for the forthcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 with a three-match ODI series against West Indies in Barbados. India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited his West Indies counterpart Shai Hope to bat first.

India handed the debut cap to right-arm pacer Mukesh Kumar and the Bengal pacer started with a maiden over. Apart from Mukesh Kumar, captain Rohit included Shardul Thakur and Umran Malik as the other two pacers for the opening game.

The team management included left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven while his wrist-spin twin Yuzvendra Chahal missed out. In Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, Team India have two all-rounders on the side. Hardik - who is fresh from the break he got after IPL 2023 - opened the bowling for Team India.

The move hinted that captain Rohit expects his deputy to share the new-ball responsibilities with the rest of the pacers and provide him with some early breakthrough. In Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav, Team India have four quality batters in the top order.t IND vs WI: Indian cricket team miffed with BCCI for mismanagement, ask board to plan well

But a notable absentee in the Indian playing eleven was the wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson - who received an India call-up for this tour. The Kerala cricketer was not included in the opening game against West Indies as Ishan Kishan was handed over the responsibility of performing the duties with the gloves.

While Samson was sitting in the dressing room but his teammate Suryakumar Yadav donned the former's jersey to get onto the field. The cameras when panned towards SKY showed him wearing the jersey carrying 'Samson' and his number '9'.

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra - who is part of the commentary panel - wondered what possibly was the reason behind SKY's gesture. He even wondered if SKY's bag was misplaced by the airlines he was travelling with. Team India were made to wait for hours at the airport in Port of Spain as their flight was delayed.

Some fans on Twitter termed SKY's gesture as a mark of protest for excluding the talented cricketer - who doesn't get frequent chances in the playing eleven. The Rajasthan Royals captain is termed as a serious talent and experts have always rated him as a dependable batter in the white-ball format.