"Senior Players Should Be Rested": Harbhajan Singh's Advice To Selectors Ahead Of West Indies Tour

With Team India set to tour West Indies next month, former spinner Harbhajan Singh has urged the selectors to pick a young team for the five-match T20Is. BCCI announced the schedule for India's tour of the West Indies, starting July 12. The teams will play two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is. While the squads are yet to be announced, it is expected that the selectors by might drop some players who have not been able to impress the management.

Harbhajan also called for a fresh approach starting with the West Indies tour, and added that the senior players have played enought cricket, especially in T20Is.

"The seniors have played enough cricket and should be rested. I urge them (the board) to not delay this any further and send a young team to the West Indies. For T20Is, Hardik Pandya should be the captain for the tour. The selectors should pick a team with which you can build a sie in the future," Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.

Harbhajan also picked his 15-man squad for the T20Is, and included six new faces -- Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Harshit Rana and Akash Madhwal -- who had a breakthrough campaign in IPL 2023.

"Shubman Gill will definitely be one of the openers. I would like to see them try Yashasvi Jaiswal as the other opener. He has had an incredible IPL season and has also done well wherever he has got an opportunity. I feel he is ready for the biggest stage. They can even try him in the senior team that's how good he has been. Ruturaj Gaikwad would be my third opener I will take Axar [Patel] as the all-rounder and then the two spinners in [Ravi] Bishnoi and Yuzvendra Chahal. Akash Madhwal had a great IPL and I feel he should be there in the team as well," he added.

Harbhaj