Team India’s situation does not look good in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The team is trailing 1-2 against hosts Australia and the players do not look confident about their performance either.
In such a situation, a report has emerged that Gautam Gambhir has made a request to include veteran batsman Cheteshwar Pujara in India’s squad for the ongoing Test series. But Gambhir’s request was rejected by Ajit Agarkar and his selection committee.
Pujara has plenty of experience of bowling in Australian conditions and has also bowled the quartet of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon several times in his career. His experience could have been fruitful for a team struggling in the batting department.
Read also: MS Dhoni fired shots at modern day cricketers? Myth: “I don’t need PR.”
Gautam Gambhir’s request to include Cheteshwar Pujara was rejected by the selectors
According to The Indian Express, Gautam Gambhir wanted Cheteshwar Pujara to be in India’s squad for this series. But the selectors rejected his request and chose to select the team on the basis of current form.
Pujara was the highest run-scorer in the 2018-19 Test series between Australia and India with 521 runs in seven innings at an average of 74.42. He scored 3 hundreds and 1 fifty as India registered a historic Test series win in Australia.
The 36-year-old veteran has played a key role in India’s upcoming series in Australia as well. He scored 271 runs in eight innings at an average of 33.87. He scored these runs off 928 balls and played key roles in the draw in Sydney and the memorable win at the Gabba.
Gautam Gambhir is believed to have mentioned Cheteshwar Pujara despite India’s win in the first Test in Perth. Overall, Pujara scored 993 runs in the 11 Tests played in Australia at an impressive average of 47.28.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s latest look
Recently, Cheteshwar Pujara played in the first half of the Ranji Trophy for Saurashtra and scored his 25th goal in the Ranji Trophy against Chhattisgarh. The 36-year-old turned it into a hundred. He went on to play a marathon innings of 234 runs off 383 balls which included 25 fours and one six.
It was a typical Pujara type of innings but the match ended in a draw. However, he did not have a great season overall despite this hit. Pujara scored 269 runs in six innings at an average of 44.83 with only one score over 100.
Chaotic situation in the Indian dressing room
The report also states that Gautam Gambhir was angry with India’s recent performance and reminded the players of the team’s plan. He gave a harsh assessment of the players’ performance and claimed that they were doing their own thing instead of going according to plans.
The former India opener also spoke about the inability of their batsmen to score runs since the start of India’s home Test season in September. All these things have left the Indian dressing room in absolute disarray ahead of the final Test in Sydney, which will be played from January 3.
https://static.cricketaddictor.com/images/posts/2025/Gautam-Gambhir-Cheteshwar-Pujara-Ajit-Agarkar-.webp?q=80
Source link