Sunil Gavaskar criticized the Indian selection committee for leaving Cheteshwar Pujara off the Test team for the upcoming two-match Test series against the West Indies. With the exception of Ajinkya Rahane, the entire batting unit failed to defeat Australia in the World Test Championship final, and only Pujara was dropped.
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Pujara had a dismal performance in the WTC Final, scoring poorly in both innings 14 and 27. Prior to the crucial match, he played county cricket for Sussex but was unable to maintain his performance level when wearing the Indian jersey. Gavaskar feels that Pujara can still make a comeback in the future as he plays county and domestic cricket.
“Clearly, only one man has been singled out while others also failed. To me, the batting failed. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane, of course, in both innings, he got 89 and 46, nobody else really got runs,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“Why is he [Cheteshwar Pujara] dropped then? Why is he being made the scapegoat for our batting failures? He has been a servant of Indian cricket, a loyal servant. Because he doesn’t have millions of followers on whatever platforms who would make a noise in case he gets dropped?,” he added.
The India vs West Indies series marks the beginning of the WTC 2023-25 cycle and the start of India’s transition phase. Pujara is the first senior on the block to be phased out. The selectors have instead opted for youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad to play in the West Indies.
India’s Test squad for WI Tour: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
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