The Trinidad and Tobago wicket-keeper batter Amir Jangoo has earned his maiden call-up for the two upcoming away Tests for the West Indies, which begins on January 16 at the National Stadium in Karachi. Both of these games will be part of the third cycle in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25.
West Indies are already out of the race for the final qualification at Lord’s in June 2025, having won just a couple of encounters in 11 fixtures at a percentage system of 24.24. The Shan Masood-led side will be taking part in an away series against South Africa that starts on Boxing Day at the SuperSport Park in Centurion before returning home for the series.
The Caribbean side has added their left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie, back in the squad after the Guyana-spinner missed the two home Tests against Bangladesh last month as he was playing the inaugural edition of the Global Super League at the Providence stadium. The 29-year-old has featured in nine red-ball clashes so far, where he has picked up 28 wickets at an average of 27.35 and a strike rate of 51.2 with the help of two five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul at the best bowling figure of 7/37 in an inning.
West Indies to miss Alzarri Joseph due to ILT20; Shamar Joseph out with injury
Jangoo’s inclusion has been on the back of his decent FC performance, where he has collected 1909 runs in 62 innings at an average of 34.08 and a strike rate of 49.61 with the help of 12 half-centuries and one century at the best score of 218.
He was rewarded with the maiden call-up for West Indies for his golden domestic one-day performance in 2023-24, where he drilled 500 runs in five fixtures at an average of 63.50 with two centuries and one half-century, to be the highest run-getter of the domestic side. He recently made his debut against Bangladesh and celebrated a century to help them get their third-highest chase in the format.
“Motie rejoins the squad to bolster the spin attack, while Jangoo’s selection comes on the back of his consistency across formats in regional cricket, as well as his demonstrated high level of competency against spin bowling. For the Test series against Pakistan in January 2025, the focus is on building on what we have done well and transforming the learnings from 2024 into tangible results.” The head coach of the West Indies side, Andre Coley, expressed in a statement.
Motie will be leading the spin-bowling department of the side, along with Kevin Sinclair and Jomel Warrican. Jangoo and Motie will be replacing the pace bowling duo of Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph. The former is suffering from the shin splints, which forced him to miss the ODI series against Bangladesh at the start of this month.
Alzarri will be unavailable for West Indies because of the clash with the ILT20 in the United Arab Emirates, where he will be turning out for the MI Emirates, as the CWI has termed it as ‘other engagements’.
The rest of the side is nearly the same, with Kraig Braithwaite leading them. Joshua Da Silva will be his deputy, while Mikyle Louis, Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, and Justine Graves will be part of the batting unit. The fast bowling department will be led by Kemar Roach.
That will be the first Test series trip for the West Indies to Pakistan after more than 18 years, with the last red-ball clash between these two teams coming in October 2016.
West Indies Squad For 2 Tests vs Pakistan
Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Joshua Da Silva (vice-captain), Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Amir Jangoo, Mikyle Louis, Gudakesh Motie, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican