The Indian Test team is a tough place to make a comeback. So if once you are dropped, it’s really hard for a player to make a comeback.
In the past couple of years, there have been some senior players who have been dropped from the team owing to form and age, and it’s highly unlikely that they will play in whites again.
3 Indians players who might soon announce their Test retirement:
Wriddhiman Saha
If there was ever a chance of Wriddhiman Saha coming back into the whites side, it was for the WTC Final 2023 against Australia. Because Rishabh Pant was out injured, KS Bharat hadn’t impressed in his debut series at home with the bat against Australia, and the WTC Final was his first overseas while Ishan Kishan is still uncapped.
However, by not recalling Wriddhiman Saha, aged 38. even for the one-off longest format the BCCI selectors have made it clear that Saha is not in their thoughts anymore. This indication was clear to Saha as well, who could soon announce his retirement from longest format cricket.
Saha has played 40 Test matches for India, scoring 1353 runs at an average of 29 with 3 hundreds to his name.
Ishant Sharma
Senior India pacer Ishant Sharma featured in 8 matches in 2021 with only 14 wickets to show and was dropped from the squad in early 2022. Siraj had already gone ahead in the pecking order and with India playing with only 2 seamers at home – to choose between Siraj, Shami, and Umesh – and picking Shardul Thakur as a seam-bowling all-rounder away from home, Ishant wasn’t going to find a place in the XI; his dipping form and age further hurt his cause.
In the absence of Bumrah, there were thoughts whether Ishant could be called back for a one-off Test match that was the WTC Final, but he didn’t get a recall as India went with Umesh and Shardul with Mukesh Kumar on the bench.
Ishant is the first proper fast bowler to play over 100 Tests for India. In 105 matches, he picked 311 wickets. It is unlikely that he will add to that tally now.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped for the second time in two years from the Test team, and this time, it seems he’s dropped for good and won’t get a chance to make a comeback. The 35-year-old Indian Test batter, a veteran of 103 Test matches, Cheteshwar Pujara has been out of form in recent times, with only one century – against Bangladesh – since 2021, and averaging 31 in this period.
Pujara’s dropping signalled this transition period, and India would give a youngster – most likely Jaiswal – a long rope at number 3.
