An eye on future: Pujara dropped for West Indies series; Jaiswal and Gaikwad get maiden call-up

One of only 13 Indians with 100-plus Test appearances, Pujara may find it tough to stage another comeback

Cheteshwar Pujara, the unflinching warrior who made the No. 3 batting spot his own over the past decade, may have played his last Test. The national selection committee, on Friday, dropped the 35-year-old from India’s 16-member Test squad for the tour of West Indies.

Pujara has bounced back from many setbacks in his storied career (AP)

Pujara has bounced back from many setbacks in his storied career (103 matches, 7195 runs, avg 43.60). He was dropped after the tour of South Africa in January 2022 but returned for the Test against England in Birmingham six months later. His comeback was swift — he missed only two Tests — on the back of a fruitful county season. It is understood that he plans to continue playing for Sussex for the rest of this season. But the latest call from the selectors appears to have an air of finality to it — young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been drafted into the squad and this is the start of a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Gaikwad, 26 and Jaiswal, 21 were named as reserves for the WTC final against Australia — the former withdrew for his marriage — and they will be in contention to take the No. 3 position. The other option the think-tank is mulling is to push Shubman Gill down to No. 3, with Gaikwad and Jaiswal having tasted success as openers in domestic cricket. It is a call requiring foresight as India look to rebuild their middle-order in the coming cycle.

While Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have been performing below-par in the past three years, the axe finally fell on Pujara. The Saurashtra batter’s average has been hovering in the mid-20s for three of the last four years, but more than the numbers, one understands Pujara’s slow rate of scoring was beginning to lose favour with the team management.

Rahane the vice-captain

This, however, is far from a complete overhaul with Rahane set to get a long rope after his impressive return in the WTC final (89 and 46). The Mumbai batter has been named vice-captain for the series, with the selectors unwilling to groom Gill for the top job yet.

Gaikwad’s composure against top new-ball bowlers on the IPL stage may have boosted his case for selection. There are many others with better first-class numbers than Gaikwad (28 matches, 1941 runs, avg 42.19), but he’s been chosen over the prolific Sarfaraz Khan. It puts a hold, for now, on the Suryakumar Yadav experiment in Tests.

There is little room for debate over Jaiswal’s selection. One of the bright young prospects on the circuit, there is a lot more to the left-hander who outperformed Jos Buttler in the IPL. Averaging 80.21 for his 1,845 first-class runs, Jaiswal scored 213 and 144 in this year’s Irani Cup while batting at No. 3. As an opener, he scored 100 and 181 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final and 265 in the Duleep Trophy final last year.

The only other changes are in the fast-bowling department. Navdeep Saini makes a comeback in place of Umesh Yadav, who was listless against Australia at The Oval. Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar gets his maiden call-up. Mohammed Shami has been given a rest before the Asia Cup.

Samson back in ODI mix

In the squad picked for the three-match one-day series against West Indies, Sanju Samson’s return in the middle-order was the big talking point.

The Rajasthan Royals captain is one of two wicket-keepers in the squad alongside Ishan Kishan. But the selectors may be looking at Samson as a middle-order back-up to KL Rahul in case the latter fails to recover successfully for the ODI World Cup in October-November. Samson has played some sparkling innings in the limited opportunities he’s had in ODIs (11 matches, avg 66, SR 104), with his unbeaten 86 against South Africa in Lucknow last year standing out. With Rohit Sharma and Gill likely to open, Samson may get some game time in the Caribbean.

Suryakumar, despite three successive ducks in the last series against Australia and an ODI career (23 matches, avg 24.05, SR 102) that is yet to take off, has been trusted to come good as a potential game-changer.

Gaikwad gets a chance to add to his solitary ODI appearance. All-rounder Washington Sundar has lost his ODI spot, with the selectors concerned about his frequency of injuries. Mukesh is also part of the ODI team alongside Mohammed Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat and Umran Malik.

The series begins with two Tests from July 12, followed by three ODIs and five T20Is.