Select team: Should Rahul replace Dhawan as opener?

Pick India's playing 11 for the first Test against the West Indies.

Coach Anil Kumble will sit down with Captain Virat Kohli to pick Indi's eleven for the first Test against the West Indies.

The tourists, keen to get their four-Test series off to a winning start and maintain their unbeaten record in the Caribbean since 2002, have to decide who between K L Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan they opt for to partner Murali Vijay in the opening slot.

Rahul, who had a superb run in the IPL and subsequent limited overs tour of Zimbabwe, boosted his stock further with half-centuries (50 and 64) in the two practice games against the West Indies Cricket Board President's XI.

Dhawan hit 51 in the first warm-up match, but was out cheaply in the second. He has struggled for runs in the last year or so, failing to cross the 50-run mark in his last eight innings.

In all likelihood, India will go into the first Test with five bowlers, which means it will be a toss-up between Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma for that solitary spot in the middle order.

Both batsmen had a poor run in the series against South Africa last year, though that could be blamed on the wickets, which offered the spinners a lot of assistance, resulting in the first three Tests finishing well inside hree days.

While Pujara registered one half-century in six innings, Rohit struggled in the two Tests he played, scoring just 26 runs in four innings.

Pujara is more of a Test specialist and should get the nod ahead of Rohit, who, for all his talent, has never lived up to expectations in the longer format.

The wickets in the West Indies may be slightly on the slower side and the Kohli-led side will look to take the aggressive route by playing with five bowlers in a bid to have options in hand to claim the 20 Windies wickets.

As vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane rightly pointed out, the batsmen will have to take more responsibility and ensure the bowlers have enough runs to bowl at.

'Once you get set it is important to make each and every session count, because we will have to give time for our bowlers. It is not easy to take 20 wickets on these slower tracks. As a batting unit we will have to take responsibility and I think one or two batsmen will have to get set and score big here,' Rahane said on Monday, July 18.

All-rounder Stuart Binny could make it to the playing eleven ahead of one of the seamers, as he can be handy with both bat and ball.

Two fast bowlers and two spinners plus Binny could provide variety to India's bowling attack.

Ravichandran Ashwin is a definite starter and Kohli has never made secret of his preference to play Amit Mishra.

The leg-spinner is more likely to pick wickets on slow wickets than Ravindra Jadeja, who tends to struggle on pitches not offering much spin.

Ishant Sharma, the man of the series during India's last tour of the West Indies in 2011, with 22 wickets from three Tests, will lead the bowling attack.

Mohammad Shami, who recently made a comeback from injury, could be selected ahead of the inconsistent Umesh Yadav.

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• Coverage: India's Tour of the West Indies