England vs India: Cheteshwar Pujara to be dropped

Pujara to be benched: The World Test Championship Final was not worth remembering for Team India and its fans. Virat Kohli and his men were humbled to a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat by the hands of New Zealand in Southampton on June 23. Plenty of fans and experts have been vocal about the Indian team’s limitations, for recently it has been the batting department which hasn’t clicked.

Pujara’s poor run in the WTC

One batsman who has come under scrutiny is Cheteshwar Pujara. The Test specialist had a poor World Test Championship campaign, as he averaged close to 27 in two years. The 33-year-old wasn’t even able to score a hundred from the last 30 innings, which has led to further criticism.

Captain Kohli also talked about the depth and quality the Indian ODI and T20I team have in contrast to the Test Team. He spoke how he would love to venture in for broader options keeping in mind the required progress in the longest format of the game.

Virat Kohli to opt for change?

“We will continue to reassess and continue to have conversations around what are the things required to strengthen our side and not follow or fall prey to certain patterns,” Kohli said in a virtual press conference.

“We will not wait for a year or so and have to plan ahead. If you see our white-ball team now, we have great depth and guys are ready and confident. The same thing needs to be done with Test cricket,” he added.

The likes of KL Rahul and Hanuma Vihari are in contention to make the cut sooner or later if the Indian skipper and management decide to bench Pujara. Regardless of his poor form, Cheteshwar Pujara has been a valuable member of the Indian Test team since 2010. The frontline batsman has scored 6267 runs from 86 Tests, which includes 29 fifties and 18 hundreds.

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