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Once a regular member of the Indian Test side, especially on away tours, middle order batter Hanuma Vihari<\/a> is not a part of the side that will be playing on the West Indies Tour. Known for his gritty display, the 29-year-old Vihari has been part of 16 Tests. His last match in India colours came in July, 2022 in the one-off Test at Birmingham against England. Since then, Vihari has been overlooked in the Test side. He has now opened up on being dropped.<\/p>\n “Definitely, there was disappointment,” Vihari told The Indian Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I didn’t find a reason why I was dropped and it was the only thing that was bothering me. Nobody really contacted me and told me the reasons why I was dropped. It took some time and I have gone through ups and downs and I’m not worried about it now. I’ve put aside my personal side of things and I don’t take too much stress about whether I’m in the Indian team or not. There are other matches to win and it is about winning the trophies.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit Sharma<\/a> confirmed that he would have a new opening partner in the first Test of the two-match series against West Indies that begins in Dominica on Wednesday. India will select a new opening combination in their first Test of the ICC World Test Championship 2023\u201325 cycle, with the skipper expected to be joined by 21-year-old left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jaiswal enjoyed a successful year of white-ball cricket, hitting 625 runs in the 2023 IPL with an average of 48 and a strike rate of 163.61 while averaging over 80 in his first 26 First Class innings. Jaiswal also enjoyed a successful year of red-ball cricket, making 265 in the second innings of the Duleep Trophy Final last year.<\/p>\n In order to fill the spot left by Cheteshwar Pujara<\/a>, who wasn’t selected for this trip, Rohit’s current partner Shubman Gill<\/a> will go down to No. 3, according to the India captain.<\/p>\n “Gill will play at number 3 because Gill himself wants to play at number 3,” Rohit said in a pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test on Wednesday.<\/p>\n “He discussed with Rahul (Dravid) that I have played all my cricket at 3 and 4. I think I can do better for my team if I bat at number 3. And it is good for us too because it becomes an opening combination of left and right,” said the India skipper.<\/p>\n “So I think we will try to do this and hopefully this will go on for a long time. Because we have been looking for a left-hander for many years. So now that we have got that left-hander, let’s hope he performs well for the team. And he can really make that spot his own,” Rohit added.<\/p>\n With ANI inputs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n