Batting great Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the Indian selectors for dropping Cheteshwar Pujara from the Test squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against West Indies. Gavaskar slammed the selectors and pointed out that apart from Ajinkya Rahane, the whole batting unit failed against Australia in the World Test Championship final and it was only Pujara who got dropped.
It was a forgettable outing for Pujara in the WTC Final and registered low scores in both innings 14 and 27. He played county cricket for Sussex ahead of the all-important clash but failed to replicate his form in the Indian colours.
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Gavaskar feels that Pujara can still make a comeback in the future as he plays county and domestic cricket.
“Yeah, he has been playing county cricket. He has played a lot of red-ball cricket, so he knows what it is about. People can play till they are 40 or 39. There is nothing wrong because they are all very fit. As long as you are scoring the runs and taking wickets, I don’t think age should be a factor,” Gavaskar told Sports Today.
The batting great emphasised that other Indian batters Rohit Sharma (15 and 43), Virat Kohli (14 and 49), and Shubman Gill (13 and 18) also failed on the big occasion against Australia.
“Clearly, only one man has been singled out while others also failed. To me, the batting failed. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane, of course, in both innings, he got 89 and 46, nobody else really got runs,” he added.
He further lashed out at the selectors and said just because Pujara has lesser followers than other players and the selection committee won’t face the same backlash on social media after dropping him.
“Why is he [Cheteshwar Pujara] dropped then? Why is he being made the scapegoat for our batting failures? He has been a servant of Indian cricket, a loyal servant. Because he doesn’t have millions of followers on whatever platforms who would make a noise in case he gets dropped?,” he added.
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Meanwhile, Gavaskar also suggested that the selectors could have rested senior stars in the test squad including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as India will be non-stop cricket in the next few months.
“I would have personally wanted the big boys to be given a complete break from Test cricket. Only now, look at the 50-overs or the 20-overs formats. I would have wanted them to only look at the white ball and not look at the red ball at all. Give them a complete break. They will be playing non-stop for three-four months,” he added.
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