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'If Ajinkya Rahane can be made vice-captain…': BCCI's glimmer of hope for Cheteshwar Pujara after India snub
If Ajinkya Rahane's Test career can receive a fresh lease of life, there's no reason to believe that Cheteshwar Pujara has played his last for India.
Is it the end of the road for Cheteshwar Pujara? The 35-year-old veteran batter was not included in India's squad for the two-Test series against West Indies starting July 12 after failing to impress in the World Test Championship final. And by the looks of it, Pujara, who worked his way back to the Indian Test team after getting dropped in January of 2022 with a string of impressive performances for Sussex in the County Championship, could be gone for good, with the Indian team expected to make a transition of sorts during the next WTC cycle.
However, as per a report, Pujara's chances of making a comeback to the Indian team have not fully extinguished. A BCCI source has indicated that while the doors are open for Pujara to return to the Test squad, the batter will have to grind it out. When most of the Indian players were participating in the IPL, Pujara was batting gloriously for Sussex, peeling off consecutive centuries against Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. However, despite having played so much cricket at The Oval and gained a substantial amount of experience over the past one year, Pujara was dismissed cheaply by the Aussies for 14 and 27. His omission was called out by certain former cricketers, notably Sunil Gavaskar, who felt Pujara was being made the scapegoat behind India's shoddy show at the WTC final.
'If Rahane can be made vice-captain after 15 months, Pujara can also return'
India's fabled Test batting line-up – featuring Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Pujara are in their mid-30s – and the selectors need to groom the next generation of cricketers to take India's cricket forward. Surprisingly, Ajinkya Rahane, whose Test career was given a ray of hope by his inclusion against Australia in the WTC final, made the most of his opportunity with scores of 89 and 46 and riding on the high of The Oval, was promoted to vice-captaincy. So if Rahane's Test career can receive a fresh lease of life, there's no reason to believe that Pujara has played his last for India.
"If Ajinkya Rahane cane be made vice-captain of the Test team after being out for 15 months before WTC final, anyone can make a comeback. The doors aren't closed on any senior player. It's just that you need to start transitioning somewhere. The selectors don't want a situation where all seniors quit the scene in one go and we don't have anyone experienced left in the dressing room," a BCCI source told Times of India.
Rahane's vice-captaincy and Pujara's omission weren't the only takeaways from India's Test squad against the Windies. The exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan and Ruturaj Gaikwad getting preference over him is a development people are having a tough time coming to terms with. The line-up also marks the return of Navdeep Saini and maiden call-ups for Yashasvi Jaiswal Mukesh Kumar and Gaikwad. That India have included Kohli, Rohit, Jadeja and Ashwin could be an indication that the veterans still have plenty to offer.
