Team India head coach Ravi Shastri is of the opinion that Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara should remain in the top bracket when the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Committee of Administrators chalk out the revised contracts based on the new and modified remuneration structure. One of the pillars in the Indian Test set-up Pujara is currently in Grade A of central contracts alongside skipper Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajjinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay.
Both Pujara and Vijay don’t play the limited overs format, but when it comes to the longest format, they are the pillars of the team. During a panel discussion on journalist Rajdeep Sardesai’s new book, the Democracy XI Shastri said, “It is very important that someone like Cheteshwar Pujara is kept in the top bracket of the central contract.”
Shastri along with former and current skippers Dhoni and Kohli met CoA chief Vinod Rai to discuss the revised package of compensation for the Future Tours and Programme (FTP) calendar. Discussions have been going on in the BCCI circles that players will be divided by the maximum number of international encounters played across formats at the end of a particular calendar year.
Pujara has been a sensational player for India in the longest format of the game, but when it comes to the shorter versions, he doesn’t play ODI’s and T20I’s for India and unfortunately hasn’t been getting any IPL contract. Meanwhile, the head coach also spoke on how the mutual respect between Dhoni and Kohli has taken the team forward.
“I have never seen Dhoni lose his cool. If he has, it must have been for 10 seconds. Kohli is still work in progress but he will certainly mature. I hear a lot of stories about their relationship but all those are not true. I have seen how much mutual respect the two have for each other,” Shastri concluded.
