[Watch] Cheteshwar Pujara gears up for Duleep Trophy after being dropped for WI tour

Cheteshwar Pujara is gearing up for the Duleep Trophy after being dropped for the upcoming two Tests against West Indies next month.

In a clip uploaded on Instagram, the right-handed batter can be seen practicing his shots. Pujara captioned the post with cricket and heart emojis. The post comes a day after the Saurashtra batter was dropped for WI Tests following his failure with the bat in the 2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final in England.

The 35-year-old scored 14 & 27 runs as India lost to Australia by 209 runs in the summit clash. That came despite him scoring three tons for Sussex in the County Championship division two.

Watch the video below:

As per The Times of India, the selectors want to try out youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad for the upcoming championship cycle (2023-25). Pujara, though, is not entirely ruled out for future Tests.

A source told TOI:

“If [Pujara] scores runs in domestic cricket, the doors are not closed on him, and that has been communicated to him.”

---

“Why is he being made the scapegoat?” – Sunil Gavaskar on Cheteshwar Pujara’s axe for WI Tests

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at selectors for dropping Cheteshwar Pujara for WI Tests. The 73-year-old said that the entire batting unit, barring Ajinkya Rahane, flopped in the WTC final. He told India Today:

“Why is he being made the scapegoat for our batting failures? Because he doesn’t have millions of followers on whatever platforms who would make a noise in case he gets dropped? What is the criteria for dropping him and keeping the others who failed?”

Besides Pujara, the likes of captain Rohit Sharma (15 and 43), Virat Kohli (14 and 49), and Shubman Gill (13 and 18) too failed to deliver in the WTC final. The trio, though, retained their places in the Test squad.

Meanwhile, Pujara will next be seen in action for West Zone in Duleep Trophy from July 5. They will play the winners of East Zone and Central in the semifinals at Alur.

West Zone squad: Priyank Panchal (Captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harvik Desai (wicketkeeper), Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Arpit Vasavada, Atit Seth, Shams Mulani, Yuvraj Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla.