Cheteshwar Pujara’s omission from India’s squad for the two-match Test series against West Indies has been met with severe criticism. India are scheduled to play two matches against West Indies next month.
Many believe that the senior batsman was made a scapegoat following India’s humiliating loss against Australia in the WTC final earlier this month. Pujara scored 14 and 27 in the final as Australia thrashed India by 209 runs to win the clash. But other top-order batsmen failed to score big either before the selectors decided to drop the right-handed batsman.
The selectors have handed maiden Test call-ups to Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad for the upcoming series. Jaiswal is expected to bat at number three in the upcoming series against West Indies while Ruturaj is likely to be a backup opener.
Brad Hogg on Cheteshwar Pujara’s omission:
Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg has explained the reason he believes was the key behind Cheteshwar Pujara getting dropped from the Test team. The World Cup-winning spinner has said that the senior batsman was not dropped for his performance but because of his strike-rate.
“I think it’s got nothing to do with his performance. He’s been one of the best number 3’s over the last decade. All it’s got to do with his strike rate. I think the Indian selectors want to go with youth, with more aggressive batting at the top of the order now,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
“If you look at Pujara’s strike rate early on his career, it was around the mid-40s, the last two years have been around 37. That’s not good enough when you want to entertain the fans and England have shown that there’s been a bit of a revamp with the Bazball and people are loving the way that they’re going about it.”
“I think this is where the Indian selectors want to go and the BCCI as well. If Test cricket is going to survive, we’ve got to have more aggressive batting out the top of the order especially,” he added.
Pujara has been one of India’s most reliable Test batsmen in the last one decade or so but has faced criticism on several occasions because of his strike-rate. The Saurashtra star has a career strike rate of 44.37.
India’s Test squad:
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, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.