Star player Out, Two Debutants! Who makes Harbhajan Singh's predicted India XI vs West Indies?

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Former India player Harbhajan Singh has made some bold predictions ahead of the first Test against West Indies.

India will play two Tests in the Caribbean and the first match will start from Wednesday (July 12) in Dominica. The Indian team have gone with a few new names for the series.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mukesh Kumar have all been included in the squad and some of them can make their debut for the senior team in the series. And ahead of the first Test, former India player Harbhajan has picked up his predicted playing XI ahead of the team.

On his YouTube channel, the former India spinner released a video picking his team for the first Test.

Harbhajan hopes to see Yashasvi Jaiswal in the starting team and opines the debutant must bat at no. 3 as Shubman Gill should open with Rohit Sharma. He picks Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane as No. 4 and No. 5 respectively.

"Shubman has got that position based on his performance. So his position should not be touched. I will play Yashasvi at No. 3. I hope he makes his debut and scores a lot of runs. He is a top player. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane will play at No. 4 and No. 5," Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan also hopes to see both Jaydev Unadkat and Mukesh Kumar in the team. Unadkat has been a stellar performer for India in the domestic format and played his first Test in 12 years last year against Bangladesh.

Mukesh Kumar, on the other hand, was called up to the Indian Test squad after a string of terrific outings in the domestic circuit.

"I will play Unadkat. Because he is performing in domestic cricket for a long time but hasn't got the opportunity. So I hope he gets the chance to play there. At No. 11, I will have Mukesh Kumar. He has done extremely well in Ranji Trophy," the former India spinner added.

Interestingly, Harbhajan has gone with both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, while dropping Axar Patel. Shardul Thakur, who was one of India's top performers in the WTC 2023 Final, also fails to make the cut in Harbhajan's team.

Harbhajan's India Playing XI vs West Indies

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar