IND vs WI 1st Test: Rahane is happy to be the vice-captain of the Indian team, said this before the test against West Indies

Ahead of the Dominica Test against the West Indies, Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said that his team will not take the Windies lightly after their recent struggles. The West Indies team had a dismal performance in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifiers and could not secure a last-10 spot for the tournament to be held in India. The Windies team will not be seen playing the ODI World Cup for the first time. At the same time, India will start its ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle with the first Test against the West Indies starting on Wednesday.

Rahane said – Team India's preparation is good

Rahane said in the press conference before the match – We have prepared well. We played a good practice match. We respect West Indies as a team. We are not the ones to take them lightly. West Indies have done well at home over the years, especially in Tests. We want to give our 100 percent on the field and will depend on our game plan and strengths.

Rahane praised Yashasvi

Rahane also expressed his happiness for young Mumbai batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been included in the national team for the first time for this series and could also make his international debut. Rahane said- I am very happy for Yashasvi. He has worked very hard to reach here. Scored a lot of runs for Mumbai in domestic cricket and IPL. He is an exciting talent and the way he is batting is good to watch. Yashasvi expresses himself while batting. He bats with complete freedom and doesn't think much about whether he is playing international cricket or the pressure of it.

New players will be eyeing number three

Yashasvi was the fifth-highest run-scorer in IPL 2023. He scored 625 runs in 15 matches at an average of 48.07 with one century and five fifties. Yashasvi has scored 1,845 runs in 15 first-class matches at an average of 80.21, including nine centuries and two fifties. In the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara, Rahane said that new players have the opportunity to bat at number three. New players can try to capitalize on this opportunity.

Rahane is happy to be vice-captain

Rahane expressed his happiness on his return to the team and his role as the vice-captain in the new WTC 2023-25 cycle. He said- I know about this role. I was the vice captain for four-five years. I am really happy to be back on the team and to be the vice captain. I'm still young. I still have a lot of cricket left in me. I had a good IPL season. I had a good domestic cricket season too. I am enjoying my cricket at the moment. I don't want to think too much about the future. Now every match is important, be it for me or the team. I am focusing on that.

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