‘Could have been given better…’ – Former India coach slams selectors for dropping Cheteshwar Pujara from Test squad
Cheteshwar Pujara (Source: Twitter)
Star India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from India’s Test team for India’s upcoming tour to West Indies. He has been excluded from the Test squad chosen for the West Indies tour. This came up after Pujara’s continuous below-par performances in international cricket. However, this decision has not been praised by many, as they believe that Pujara could have been treated well.
The latest on the list is former Women’s team coach WV Raman, who slammed Indian team management for not picking up Pujara for the Windies tour. He also said that the team should have given better treatment to Sussex’s batter. “The problem is that they have picked four possible openers, and they have dropped Pujara, which is another bone of contention. A cricketer like Pujara has done a lot for Indian cricket, and he has been instrumental in India winning both at home and abroad on quite a few occasions,” Raman said on Aakash Chopra‘s YouTube channel.
“He is a gritty customer. He was even elevated to vice-captain quite recently, but after a failure in the WTC final, he finds that he is left out in the cold. I think this is one decision that has not gone down well with many people, and I, personally, am not for it. He deserves to be treated properly. If they think it’s the end of Pujara, he could’ve been given a better exit,” he further added.
Despite scoring runs for Sussex in the County Championship, Pujara fell short of expectations during the World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia. He failed to make an impact in the crucial match, scoring only 14 and 27 points. As a result, he was left out of the team’s two-match Test series against the Windies. Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane got another opportunity as he performed exceptionally in the WTC finals against Australia.
India also dropped pacer Umesh Yadav from the Test team. Apart from these, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sanju Samson are new entrants in the Test and ODI squads. Suryakumar Yadav also made it into the ODI squad despite his poor performance in the past series.
India’s squad for the West Indies tour:
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
India’s ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.
