
On Sunday (May 22), the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee announced a 17-man squad for Rohit Sharma-led India's fifth and final Test versus England, which will be held in early July atEdgbaston, Birmingham.
Among the four senior players who were dropped for the home series versus Sri Lanka, in March, Cheteshwar Pujara is the only one to have stormed his way back into the squad. Pujara was rewarded for his memorable run forSussex in the County Championship in England. The right-hander returned with720 runs in 8 innings at an average of 120.0, including two double-tons, to make a comeback into the Test line-up for the series decider versus England, i.e. a part ofthe incomplete series held last year in the United Kingdom.
Thus, former chief selector MSK Prasad reacted to Pujara's comeback in whites and hailed his commitment. “Unbelievable. Only one word I can say is an unbelievable comeback. This shows the commitment he has towards the sport and himself. It's a wonderful story,” Prasad told NDTV.
“Not many people would have believed what he has done. I think credit to him, for the way he performed in the County to stake his claim in the Test team. Because all through his career he has always been a Test cricketer, and had he not been there in this team, I think we would have missed him forever," the former keeper-batter added.
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Pujara was unsold at the IPL 2022 mega auction, following which he went to play the County championship.The decision proved to be a masterstroke for the Test specialist as he made a quick return to the red-ball squad after being dropped following a poor run in the South Africa Tests, held early this year.
Indian cricket team Test squad:Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna