Published: Jun 30, 2023, 08:48 AM (IST)
Edited: Jun 30, 2023, 08:48 AM (IST)
New Delhi: In the squad announced by the Men’s Selection Committee for the upcoming two-match Test series which also marks the beginning of India’s 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, a decision was made to drop veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara. However, the decision was heavily criticised on the social space by both fans and former cricketers.
There are no places for Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami, with call-ups given to Gaikwad and Jaiswal seen as a potential start of transition in the Indian Test batting line-up. Former Indian cricketer WV Raman addressed this and said that Pujara deserved a better exit.
“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 for India winning both at home and abroad on quite a few occasions,” Raman told former India opener Aakash Chopra on the latter’s Youtube channel.
“He is a gritty customer. He was even elevated to vice-captaincy quite recently but 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, as well, I am not for it,” he added.
“He deserves to be treated properly. In the event, if they think it’s the end of Pujara, he could have been given a better exit, but that’s how things happen sometimes, and this is not the first case again. There are a lot of precedences as far as this kind of treatment is concerned,” Raman concluded.
India’s Test squad vs West Indies: 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.
