India will be up against West Indies in a record two-Test match on October 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The game will be memorable for the reason that India will play at home without the services of veterans Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin for the first time in almost 15 years. India last hosted a home Test without having at least one of these giants on board when they defeated New Zealand at Nagpur in 2010. India won by an innings and 198 runs on that occasion to seal the three-match series 1-0, as the previous two Tests had ended in a draw. New Zealand could only muster 193 in their first innings, Jesse Ryder making 59, as Ishant Sharma took 4/43 and Pragyan Ojha 3/57. India's response was humongous as they scored 566, with Gautam Gambhir scoring 78, Virender Sehwag 74, Rahul Dravid scoring a marathon 191, Sachin Tendulkar 61 and MS Dhoni 98. Daniel Vettori worked hard to take 3/178. In their second match, the visitors were bowled out for 175 as Ishant picked up three more wickets and Harbhajan Singh claimed 3/56. Also Read | Asia Cup 2025 Trophy Row: India vs Mohsin Naqvi Drama Following over a decade of dominating the sport, three of India's contemporary greats have now come out of retirement. Ashwin marked the end of his international career after the third Test against Australia in 2024 finished as a draw. Having already retired after announcing the end of his international career, he recently retired from his IPL career also, additionally signing a historic contract with Sydney Thunder for the BBL season 2025–26. Rohit too quit long version of the game in May 2025, a week apart from each other, before India announced its squad for the tour of England. Both had already retired from the shortest form of the game after guiding India to a victorious tour of the 2024 T20 World Cup, which was hosted in the USA and West Indies. Even in the absence of these veterans, India demonstrated grit in the five-Test series against England this year, drawing it 2-2 after a closely contested match. Having demonstrated that in the earlier performance, the spotlight now turns to the next two-match series against West Indies as India will seek to win and earn precious points in the World Test Championship 2025–27 cycle.