Amidst being ousted, Harbhajan Singh said Cheteshwar Pujara deserves fair treatment

The Indian selection committee has announced the Test and ODI squads for the West Indies tour next month. Significantly, there has been a discussion on the exclusion of star batsman Cheteshwar Pujara from the Test team. Pujara, a long-time member of the Test team, has been dropped following inconsistent performances across formats. In their place, young talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been given a chance to stake claim for the No.3 spot.

Pujara’s absence doesn’t come as a surprise to many, as he averaged 32 in the last World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, where he played 17 Tests. Significantly, Pujara was dropped from the team even before the home series against Sri Lanka in February last year. However, he came back strongly in July after an impressive performance with Sussex in the County Championship.

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh has come to the rescue of Pujara after he was dropped from the team. Harbhajan hoped that Pujara was “rested” instead of being dropped. He argued that other batsmen in the Indian XI have performed on par with Pujara during last year’s WTC cycle, and it would be unfair to single out the 35-year-old batsman.

Want better treatment for Pujara

“Cheteshwar Pujara is not there, which is worrying me. He has been a big player of India. Hopefully he will also be given a break and not dropped. Pujara is the backbone of this team. If you are taking him out, the averages of the other batsmen have also not been good. The benchmark should be the same for all players, no matter how big a player you are, Harbhajan said on his official YouTube channel.

Harbhajan further said that if Pujara is not considered a key player, it would logically follow that others would also not be considered key players. He stressed on the importance of having no uncertainty about Pujara’s career. He pointed out that Pujara contributed significantly to India’s series win in Australia and commendable performance in England.

Admitting that there have been ups and downs in Pujara’s consistency in the last year and a half, Harbhajan suggested evaluating the performances of other batsmen as well, as their figures were quite comparable. As a result, he concluded that the exclusion of Pujara was an unjust action.

Highlighting Pujara’s impressive record of playing 100 Tests, Harbhajan stressed on the need to respect his achievements. He expressed his desire for clear communication between the selectors and Pujara before taking such a decision. Harbhajan believes that Pujara still has the potential to excel in Test cricket.

The Indian team is set to play two Tests and three ODIs in the West Indies. The squad for the five T20 matches against the Caribbean team will be announced later.