In what has been the latest development as per Times of India (TOI) reports, it is known that the Indian team management has had a clear talk with senior batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and the doors are not completely closed for him. The batsman was dropped from the squad for the next Test series against the West Indies.
Reports claimed that head coach Rahul Dravid wanted to try out the youngsters in the test squad and that is why Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal were given a nod in place of Cheteshwar Pujara. However, despite the transition underway, the 102 Test veteran can still return if he scores runs on the domestic circuit.
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Cheteshwar Pujara, as the reports suggested, will now return to the domestic circuit and play in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, which is scheduled to take place on June 28. The Saurashtra batsman will join the West Zone side, which will kick off their campaign on 5 July.
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Speaking to TOI, a reliable source said: “The selectors and the coach (Rahul Dravid) wanted to test youngsters like Jaiswal and Gaikwad, which is why Pujara has not been picked for this tour. If he scores runs in domestic cricket, doors are not closed to him, and that has been communicated to him”.
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Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been scoring loads of runs in county cricket, has been ruled out due to his latest performances. He managed misses in both innings of the ICC WTC final, drawing much criticism.
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IND vs WI: Indian test team for the West Indies series
India is set to kick off the 2023-25 World Test Championship Cycle with the Test series against the West Indies. The two games will kick off on July 12 and July 20, followed by the ODIs which are scheduled to be played from July 27 to August 1.
On Friday (June 23), the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the Test series. Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the team while apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav was also dropped. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mukesh Kumar are the new faces of the team.
Here is the India squad for the Test series against the West Indies:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (week), Ishan Kishan (week), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
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Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Raul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah