India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has raised some good questions about veteran Cheteshwar Pujara being dropped from the Indian squad for the West Indies Test series which was named on June 23, 2023.
India is set to play two Tests against West Indies on their upcoming tour of the Caribbean next month, along with 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is.
Pujara had a disappointing run of form in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final where India was completely outplayed by Australia at the Oval.
Gavaskar disagreed with the decision to bench Pujara and claimed that he shouldn't be used as a "scapegoat" when the majority of Indian batters struggled against Australia. The veteran said that Pujara knows how to play red-ball cricket and has a few more years left in him.
"Why has he been dropped? Why has he been made the scapegoat for our batting failures? He has been a loyal servant of Indian cricket. A loyal and quiet servant. A loyal and quiet achiever. But because he does not have millions of followers on platforms who will make a noise in case he gets dropped, you drop him. That is something beyond understanding.
What are the criteria for dropping him and keeping the others who failed? I do not know because nowadays, there is no media interaction with the selection committee chairman," Gavaskar said in an interaction with Sports Today.
"He has been playing county cricket. So, he has played a lot of red-call cricket and he knows what it is about. Today, people can play till they are 39-40 years old, and as long as you are producing runs, I do not think age should be a factor. Apart from (Ajinkya) Rahane, the batting completely failed. Why Pujara has been made the fall guy is something the selectors will have to explain," he added.
Pujara has not had the best time in the last 2 years as this is the second time he has been dropped from the team and in his last 28 Tests has scored only one century which came against Bangladesh last year.
Up-and-coming batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been included in the 16-member squad for a two-Test series starting July 12 in Windsor Park, Dominica.
(AFP inputs)
