MUMBAI:

, the prodigious young talent who first made his mark with a 330-ball 546 as a 14-year-old batting sensation playing for Rizvi Springfield in the Harris Shield tournament in Mumbai, is all set to earn his India Test cap on the morning of October 4 in Rajkot, when India host the West Indies for a two-Test series.

Shaw will walk out to open the innings for India with Karnataka batsman KL Rahul, who - by way of a personal score 149 and a 204-run partnership with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant in the fifth Test against England - gets to retain his place in the squad. The team for the two Test matches against the West Indies will be announced on Sunday.

Shaw, who will turn 19 by the time West Indies leave Indian shores, outdid

last year by becoming the youngest batsman to score a century in the Duleep Trophy and has been knocking on the Test doors ever since.

Sources say the young man will continue to remain in contention when India head to Australia in December this year.

Tamil Nadu batsman Murali Vijay, who was sent back after the first three Tests in England, will continue to sit out of the team. Joining him outside will be Delhi's Shikhar Dhawan, in spite of a strong show in white-ball cricket in Dubai. Dhawan's excellent performances in the shorter formats will not be a factor when it comes to him being picked for Tests. The left-hander was dropped in South Africa after the Cape Town Test but was included in the five-Test series for England based on the knock in the one-off Test match against Afghanistan in Bangalore.

Cheteshwar Pujara,

and

will continue to hold the batting slots for the No. 3, 4 and 5 positions, with Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma expected to walk back into the team at No. 6. Rishabh Pant, who impressed while scoring his hundred in the final Test against England, will also retain his place, as will Hanuma Vihari.

R Ashwin, sources say, is expected to pass the fitness Test on Sunday along with Ishant Sharma, and the duo will be back in the side for the two Tests against the West Indies. Ashwin will be joined by

, who has impressed of late and the selectors could continue to give

another go.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya, the former needing a break because of the workload at hand and the latter needing a break to get back into the groove, will not be picked for these two Tests.

All eyes were on the selectors if Karnataka-based Mayank Agarwal would be given an opportunity, this time against the West Indians, and until Friday the five-member committee seemed to be in no particular hurry to make such a move even this time around.

After series defeats in South Africa and England, the tour of Australia later this year remains the last of the three big challenges India were going to face in 2018 and it provides chief selector MSK Prasad and chief coach

with that one last opportunity to prove that this young Indian team has it to do better in the five-day format.

Likely 15 for WI Tests:

Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul,

, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Md Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Hanuma Vihari.