IND vs. AUS 4th Test: Following yet another poor showing by the Men in Blue in the fourth Test of the current series, there are rumors that team India head coach Gautam Gambhir supported selecting veteran Test batter Cheteshwar Pujara, but the selectors turned down this proposal. Indian Express claims that after the Indian team’s defeat in the fourth Test match in Melbourne, the dressing room descended into chaos. Gambhir reportedly offered the squad candid criticism since he was fed up with their subpar performances.
The last time Pujara played for India was in the 2023 WTC final against Australia at Kia Oval, when the Men in Blue lost to Australia. Pujara has played for India in over 100 Test matches. In the two innings, he only managed to score 14 and 27 runs.
A hitter like him, who amassed 993 runs after playing in 11 Test matches and at an average of 47.28 in the Down Under, may have offered a remedy for India’s batting meltdown, however, as the country’s top-order batsmen have struggled to produce throughout the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Gambhir was still in favor of selecting the seasoned Test batter after India had won the first game of the series.
In the 2018–19 series, Pujara was the highest-scoring player with 521 runs off 1258 balls. Three years later, he was crucial to India’s batting order, scoring 271 runs off 928 balls to assist the side win the series.
Before this series even started, Josh Hazewod praised Pujara’s outstanding performances and said that he was glad the seasoned batter wasn’t participating this time.
“The absence of Cheteshwar Pujara makes me pleased. He consistently makes you earn his wicket by batting a lot and spending a lot of time at the crease. has performed well on prior tours in Australia. First-rate young players are constantly joining the club, he remarked.
During the second-round encounter against Chattisgarh in October of last year, Cheteshwar Pujara achieved his 18th first-class double ton and his 25th Ranji Trophy century. This put him on the same distinguished list as Don Bradman (37), Wally Hammond (36), and Patsy Hendren (22) as the batsmen with the most first-class double tons.
