‘Sunny G is spot on these days’ – Fans react as Sunil Gavaskar miffed over Cheteshwar Pujara’s exclusion for West Indies Tour
The squads for the Indian Test and ODI sides were announced on Friday. When we look at the Test side, Cheteshwar Pujara is the big omission. Pujara scored a truckload of runs in County cricket in the second division but when it came to the World Test Championship (WTC) Pujara’s bat did not do the talking. The right-hander scored 14 off 25 in the first innings with two fours. In the second innings, he made only 27 off 47 balls with five fours.
After Pujara’s exclusion made headlines, Sunil Gavaskar gave his views about the matter on Sports Today. “Why is Cheteshwar Pujara made the scapegoat when the entire batting unit failed? Because he doesn’t have millions of followers on whatever platform to raise noise when he gets dropped”, Gavaskar said. He further added that the whole team must be held accountable for the debacle that unfolded at the Oval.
Sunil Gavaskar wanted the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be given a longer break to focus more on ODIs
The former India cricketer further went on to say that the senior players the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should have been given a bigger break by including youngsters in the Test squad against the West Indies. He said that he would have liked the seniors to focus more on ODI cricket since the 2023 World Cup is the next big assignment that is coming up. He further said that by not blooding the youngsters in India missed a chance to see what their bench strength could look like in Tests.
Gavaskar further elucidated that the West Indies are not the force that they once were and that even if India beat them 2-0 it will not mean anything. Mohammed Shami is the other notable exclusion from the side. The pacer was rested from the tour in order to manage his workload. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal were also called up for the Test leg. Mukesh Kumar also gets a go-ahead in the Test squad.
There will be two tests that will be played which will be followed by three ODIs and five T20Is. The team for the T20Is will be announced later. Rohit Sharma remains captain of the Test side for the tour of the Caribbean. A call on his Test future is likely to be made after the West Indies tour.
Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:
Why doesn't he become a selector if he has so many problems?
When it comes to becoming a selector, all big players disagree and we have our selectors who barely have played 5-10 international matches!
Just go and make the change instead of crying!— “`~_Saksham_~“` (@Its_SakshamR) June 24, 2023
Surprising #RohitSharma has a job.
— Dino Marino (@DinooMarino) June 24, 2023
Sunil Gavaskar is a trouble maker.. was,is and will be.He can only find good things about Mumbai mafia and their players.Uses Pujara’s shoulder to fire at the rest.Why does he not gracefully fade away from cricketing matters??
— RR 🇮🇳 (@libran0101) June 24, 2023
This same guy about an year ago insisted why not take Sarfaraz Khan who averages 80 and he's also a wicket keeper so the problem will be solved but cannot question why Ishan was selected for WTC and Rutu, Jaiswal now for WI tour but wants Kohli to be dropped. Baised Mumbai lobby
— John Constantine (@johnconstan555) June 24, 2023
No, he was not. The entire batting line-up got the heat after WTC.
Pujara only pays Test format and was criticised for the kind of shot selection and the judgement he was doing of the length of the ball.
He was assigned a role to just be a wall at the crease and he failed.— Saurabh (@SAURABH11__) June 24, 2023
https://twitter.com/spsinghweb/status/1672459970997112833?s=20
I somewhat agree !
— Mr.Yadav (@MigTrader) June 24, 2023
So he is targeting Kohli
— Aditya Singh (@AdityaSingh5143) June 23, 2023
Played county and scored heavily. Experience in these conditions count. but he did not do him good by scoring mediocre scores in 2 innings. I was expecting a lot more from him as all other were coming from stupid IPL fixture. He has backing of County season.
— harry SEKHON (@harrysekhon7) June 24, 2023
Right, everyone failed in last many test matches.
— Karan Bishnoi 🇮🇳 (@me_karan29) June 24, 2023
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