This will be the last meeting of the selection committee under the chairmanship of MSK Prasad as his and the Central Region selector Gagan Khoda's term is coming to an end. If everything goes well, Rohit will be rested from this three-match series so that he can stay fresh on the New Zealand tour next year. India and New Zealand will play a series of five T20s, three ODIs and two Test matches next year.
The Indian team has to play three T20 matches against the West Indies which will be played in Mumbai (6 December), Thiruvananthapuram (8 December) and Hyderabad (11 December). Three ODIs are to be held in Chennai (15 December), Visakhapatnam (18 December) and Cuttack (22 December). Rohit has played 60 competitive matches including IPL this year. This year he has played 25 ODIs, 11 T20s, which is three ODIs and four T20s more than captain Virat Kohli. Virat has been given rest twice.
There will also be discussion on the form of Shikhar Dhawan, who has not been in form since he was ruled out of the World Cup due to injury. Mayank Agarwal's superb form in Test cricket and an average of more than 50 in List A could make him the third opener for the team. Dhawan scored 41, 31 and 19 runs in three T20 matches against Bangladesh. He also played domestic cricket to regain his rhythm but could not score big. On the other hand, Agarwal scored a double century in the Indore Test against Bangladesh. Young wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant is also likely to be talked about on a consistently poor form. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has started practice and if Pant is unable to make a place in the team for the upcoming series, then he will have to face competition from MS Dhoni. Hardik Pandya, Jaspreet Bumrah, Navdeep Saini and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are still struggling with injuries, so Shivam Dubey and Sharadul Thakur are set to continue in the team.
Spin bowling All-Rounders Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya have also failed to meet expectations. Deepak Chahar will lead the fast bowling attack but Khalil Ahmed has proved to be quite expensive. He conceded 81 runs in eight overs in the last two T20 matches.