'If BCCI selectors think it's the end of him...': Former India player on Pujara's omission from WI Tests

On June 23, the BCCI selectors named a 16-man squad for Team India's upcoming two-match Test series versus West Indies, in the Caribbean island, which commences on July 12. After Rohit Sharma-led India's humiliating loss in the WTC final to Australia, some tough decisions were expected to be taken as the axe was certainly going to fall on some senior players.

Thus, Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped as the selectors chose toincludeplenty of youngsters, such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, etc. Recently, former Indian player WV Raman opened up on Pujara's omission and feels he wasn't treated properly by the BCCI selection committee.

Talking to former Indian opener Aakash Chopra on his Youtube channel, Raman said, "The problem is that they have picked four possible openers, and they have dropped Pujara, which is another bone of contention. A cricketer like Pujara has done a lot for Indian cricket, and he has been instrumental for India winning both at home and abroad on quite a few occasions."

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Raman -- the former Indian women's team coach -- further opined, "He is a gritty customer. He was even elevated to vice-captaincy quite recently but a failure in the WTC final, he finds that he is left out in the cold. I think this is one decision that has not gone down well with many people, and I, personally, as well, I am not for it."

"He deserves to be treated properly. In the event, if they think it's the end of Pujara, he could have been given a better exit, but that's how things happen sometimes, and this is not the first case again. There are a lot of precedences as far as this kind of treatment is concerned," Raman added.

Pujara, a veteran of 103 Tests, has 7,195runs in the red-ball format. The right-hander has not been at his best in the recently-concluded 2021-23 WTC cycle and his poor returns in the WTC final, where he managed 14 and 27, led to his ouster, with youngsters such as Ruturaj, Ishan Kishan, Jaiswal breathing down his neck.It will be interesting to see if Pujara manages to make a comeback to India's Test line-up.

India's squad for WI Tests:

Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin,R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.

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