Senior India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has taken the axing from the Test team to his heart and sent out a strong message 24 hours after his dropping.
On Friday, the BCCI announced the squad for next month’s 2-Test series in West Indies. Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, two players who were part of the WTC Final 2023 squad against Australia, have been dropped from the squad to face West Indies. Reports said that the BCCI has told Pujara that they want to give youngsters – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad got their maiden Test call-up – a chance in West Indies.
On Saturday, Cheteshwar Pujara took to his social media and posted a video wherein he’s keenly playing balls in a practice session. His steely eyes and determination can be seen through as he leaves, defends, and flicks balls in his trademark style as if to say that he’s not done yet and will work hard to make a bid for his comeback to the Test side.
Here, watch the video that Cheteshwar Pujara posted:
🏏 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/TubsOu3Fah
— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) June 24, 2023
Sunil Gavaskar slams selectors for making Cheteshwar Pujara the “Scapegoat”, questions Virat Kohli’s numbers
Pujara had managed scores of 14 and 27 in the WTC Final 2023 against Australia. And while Cheteshwar Pujara hasn’t had the best of the times with the bat in recent years, the likes of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, too, haven’t been at their best and have had similar numbers to Pujara.
Since the start of 2021, Pujara has the third-most Test runs amongst Indians, only behind Pant and Rohit. Since 2021, Pujara averages 31, so does Virat Kohli, while Ajinkya Rahane has a poor average of 23 in this period.
Former India legend Sunil Gavaskar reckons the selectors have made Pujara the “scapegoat” for the loss in the WTC final. Gavaskar further pointed out that India’s other batters too have been underwhelming, but since Pujara doesn’t have the social media followers like them, he’s dropped.
“Why has he been made the scapegoat for our batting failures? He has been a loyal servant of Indian cricket, a quiet and able achiever. But because he doesn’t have millions of followers on whatever platforms who would make a noise in case he gets dropped, you drop him? That is something beyond understanding,” said Gavaskar on Sports Today.
