“Please retire” – Fans react as Cheteshwar Pujara fails to deliver for Team India in WTC 2023 final

Cheteshwar Pujara failed to deliver with the bat for Team India in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at the Oval in London on Saturday, June 10.

The right-handed batter departed for just 27 runs during India’s second innings, while chasing a mammoth target of 444. The 35-year-old was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey as he failed to execute an uppercut off a bouncer from Aussie captain Pat Cummins.

With the dismissal, Australia reduced India to 93/3 to gain an edge in the ultimate Test.

For the uninitiated, Pujara was previously bowled by Cameron Green for just 14 runs in the first innings.

The Saurashtra batter’s multiple failures came as a surprise since he recently smashed three centuries while leading Sussex in the County Championship division two.

Fans on Twitter demanded retirement from Cheteshwar Pujara following his failure in the WTC 2023 final. One tweeted:

"Thank you for all your service Pujara. If you have some sense left, please retire."

Here are some of the other best Twitter reactions:

Cheteshwar Pujara once again fails to deliver for Team India in WTC final

Cheteshwar Pujara once again failed to deliver for Team India in the WTC final. The right-handed batter returned with scores of eight and 15 when New Zealand beat India by eight wickets in the 2021 inaugural WTC final.

Besides the WTC final, the No. 3 batter recently failed to deliver for Team India in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. Pujara scored just 140 runs in six innings, including a solitary fifty.

With the top three back in the hut, the onus will be on Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to rescue Team India from another heartbreak in an ICC final with more than a day left in the ultimate Test.

At the time of writing, India were 109/3, requiring 335 runs to win their first ICC event in the last 10 years. India won their last ICC title at the 2013 Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni.

Click here to follow the WTC 2023 final scores.