"Why Has He Been Made Scapegoat...": Gavaskar On Pujara's Test Exclusion

Legendary Indian cricket team opener Sunil Gavaskar was not happy with the decision to drop Cheteshwar Pujara for the upcoming Test series against West indies. Pujara had a disappointing run of form in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final where India were completely outplayed by Australia at the Oval. Gavaskar was not convinced with the decision to drop Pujara and said that he should not be made a 'scapegoat' after most Indian batters failed to perform against Australia. The legend added that Pujara knows what to do in red-ball cricket and can continue to play for a few more years.

"Why has he been dropped? Why has he been made the scapegoat for our batting failures. He has been a loyal servant of India cricket. A loyal and quiet servant. A loyal and quiet achiever. But because he does not have millions of followers on platforms who will make a noise in case he gets dropped, you drop him. That is something beyond understanding. What is the criteria of dropping him and keeping the others who failed? I do not know because nowadays, there is no media interaction with the selection committee chairman," Gavaskar said in an interaction with Sports Today.

"He has been playing country cricket. So, he has played a lot of red-call cricket and he knows what it is about. Today, people can play till they are 39-40 years old and as long as you are producing runs, I do not think age should be a factor. Apart from (Ajinkya) Rahane, the batting completely failed. Why Pujara has been made the fall guy is something the selectors will have to explain," he added.

Test veteran Cheteshwar Pujara's extended batting slump has seen him left out of India's upcoming trip to the West Indies as selectors announced squads for the tour on Friday. 

Up-and-coming batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been included in the 16-member squad for a two-Test series starting July 12 in Windsor Park, Dominica.

Jaiswal, 21, and Gaikwad, 26, were among the top run-getters in this year's Indian Premier League tournament and have been tipped as the future of Indian batting.

The duo come in at the expense of Pujara, 35, whose prolonged run drought included a disappointing 14 and 27 in India's loss to Australia in this month's World Test Championship final.

(With AFP inputs)

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