Once KL Rahul was ruled out from the third Test, Team India went for the inclusion of Devdutt Padikkal into the side. Quite an intriguing addition remarked many while others pointed out that this may very well be the doom for Cheteshwar Pujara.
Why do we say so? Well there are multiple reasons to believe that India is steering clear of the seasoned campaigner and it isn’t just about belief or the psychological aspect of the same. The number of injuries to the team were more than enough for the management to fall back to the old warhorse. Here are three reasons why Cheteshwar Pujara is not coming back to the Indian team again.
#1 It is too late for a call anymore for Cheteshwar Pujara
With Jadeja, Kohli, KL Rahul out of the equation, it should have been reason enough to call the likes of Pujara to the team. Yet, somehow, Team India chose to resort to Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, and Devdutt Padikkal. With Rahul ruled out for the third Test, Pujara was an obvious choice and also Pujji scored a century in Rajkot in January. Now, with so many factors going in favour of him, if the call didn’t come, it is done and dusted for the face of resilience.
Need pujara in test matches pic.twitter.com/ioiCxQny1k
— Aditya Tiwari ❤️👻 (@aditiwari9111) February 14, 2024
#2 India is looking to build now and Cheteshwar Pujara is most likely not a part of the new dawn
Even though it’s a risky move, at the end of the day, Team India will have to build. They will have to get past the bigger names of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma someday and this series being in India is their best bet to test the youngsters against the experienced campaigners of England. As a result, names like Pujara, who have been a reckoning force in the Test side, they will now be SOS buttons and not first plans.
#3 India is embracing a new approach
With Test cricket going through a change, a paradigm shift altogether, Team India is also entering the culture of aggression. Pujara is certainly an embodiment of resilience but when it comes to aggression, you cannot expect him to blast through the doors with a show of relentless aggression. Every individual has his style and asking him to change that makes very little sense.
