‘He has played 100 Tests, he deserves respect’ : Harbhajan Singh over dropping Cheteshwar Pujara for the West Indies Tour.

BCCI has announced the squad for the West Indies Tour India suffered a second consecutive loss in the World Test Championship final, this time against Australia, with their batting lineup failing to deliver when it mattered most. The defeat has left the Indian team grappling with numerous uncertainties and searching for answers.

Responding to these suggestions, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opted to make changes to the Test side for the West Indies tour, which was announced on Friday, June 23. In a notable decision, experienced players such as Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, who struggled in the World Test Championship final, have been left out of the Test squad.

Support for Pujara came from former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who lauded the right-handed batsman as the backbone of the team. Harbhajan expressed his hope that Pujara’s absence from the Test side was due to rest and not a permanent exclusion.

Harbhajan on his yt channel said “Cheteshwar Pujara isn’t there, which makes me worried. He has been a big player for India. Hopefully, he’s also given a break and not dropped. Pujara is the backbone of this team. If you’re dropping him, then the averages of other batters haven’t been good either. The benchmarks should be same for all players, no matter how big a player you are,”.

He added “If you don’t consider Pujara a key player… by that logic, others aren’t key players either. There shouldn’t be question marks about his career. India won series in Australia and led in England and wherever India played good, he has contributed efficiently. He hasn’t performed quite consistently in the past 1-1.5, but then have a look at other batters as well. Almost similar figures. So, to single him out isn’t right.”