India’s ICC title loss in the WTC Final 2023 meant the exclusion of a few veteran cricketers from the Test group. Star batter Cheteshwar Pujara and skilled seamer Umesh Yadav had been dropped from the Indian squad that can tackle West Indies in Men in Blue’s first task in the WTC 2023-25 cycle. Notably, it drew criticism from a couple of Indian consultants relating to India’s choice calls and additionally axing the likes of Pujara.
Now a BCCI source has defined the reasons of Cheteshwar Pujara has been stored out of the group and different batters like Virat Kohli are stored in the squad for the Caribbean. The source acknowledged that Pujara’s failure in the latest Border Gavaskar sequence all however confirmed Pujara’s exit. “Once he failed in Australia series at home, there was very little chance for him but selectors didn’t want to change things ahead of the WTC final,” a BCCI source instructed PTI.
Despite his poor outing in BGT, Pujara was stored in the squad for the WTC Final. The source added, “Twin failures at Oval sealed his fate. SS Das was in London for the WTC final. He must have had a word with head coach Rahul Dravid and intimated his panel’s thought-process post final,”
Why Virat Kohli is in the squad and Pujara out?
The source harassed the rationale why Pujara is disregarded of the squad and Kohli survived the exclusion checklist. “It is a two-year cycle and you can’t just make wholesale changes. Pujara hasn’t been scoring for three years. The difference between a Virat Kohli and a Pujara has been the rhythm. Yes, Kohli also has had a dry spell but he never looked out of form,” it stated.
“Pujara never gave you confidence after the Australia tour that he is in rhythm. Intent was also an issue. The two knocks against Bangladesh were hardly of any consequence,” the source added.
