<p>After India suffered yet another sad defeat in the final of an ICC tournament, the Rahul Dravid-coached side has made a number of major roster changes for the next ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Since the competition’s beginning, Team India has continuously made it to the final game, albeit they have failed to win both occasions. The two-time runners-up will be eager to take home their first ICC championship in the third season of the event.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-69316″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/www.theindiaprint.com-pujara-is-praised-by-harbhajan-singh-as-an-unsung-member-of-team-india-download-2023-07-11t182652.996.jpg” alt=”” width=”1140″ height=”862″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/www.theindiaprint.com-pujara-is-praised-by-harbhajan-singh-as-an-unsung-member-of-team-india-download-2023-07-11t182652.996.jpg 258w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/www.theindiaprint.com-pujara-is-praised-by-harbhajan-singh-as-an-unsung-member-of-team-india-download-2023-07-11t182652.996-150×113.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px” /></p>
<p>India will start their quest for a maiden WTC title with the forthcoming Test series against the hosts West Indies. After losing to Australia in the previous WTC final, India made their first-ever calls to three young players for the two-match Test series against the West Indies.</p>
<p>Three young players who have shown consistency in both domestic cricket and for India A, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Mukesh Kumar, have been included for the first time to the Indian team’s Test squad.</p>
<p>By resting veteran bowler Mohammed Shami and leaving veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara off the Test squad, the Asian superpowers decided to put their money into the future generation. Pujara, who recently turned 35, has served as India’s third batter for some time. The seasoned hitter, who is renowned for his outstanding defence, had trouble with Australia in the World Team Championship final. Team India will probably debut a fresh No. 3 hitter in the Caribbean if Pujara was not selected.</p>
<p>In his candid assessment before to the commencement of the Test series between India and the West Indies, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh lauded Pujara as one of the pillars of Team India’s strength. The two-time World Cup winner stated that Pujara has long been a hero who is not given enough credit. “I admire Chesteshwar Pujara much for his accomplishments. For many years, he has been the Indian team’s unsung hero. He has been one of India’s pillars of strength, performing the grunt work of holding on and ensuring the comfort of other batters, according to Harbhajan.</p>
<p>In an attempt to honour the seasoned batter, Harbhajan also pointed out that Pujara was not the only hitter who failed to live up to expectations in the WTC final. With the exception of Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur, no Indian batter was able to surpass 50 runs during the summit match against Australia. Harbhajan poked fun at the well-known Virat Kohli, who has also been woefully out of form in red-ball cricket, by drawing attention to the similarities in averages between him and Pujara during the previous WTC cycle.</p>
<p>“I think he deserves a little bit more respect than he has received, and I was surprised by the manner he was kicked from the squad. He is not the only player who is struggling to score runs. There are other players on the same side who are scoring runs at the similar rate, according to Harbhajan.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that Pujara and Kohli lead India in runs scored during the previous WTC cycle, concerns were raised by their individual averages of 32.13 and 32.</p>
<p>In addition to defending Pujara’s strike rate, the legendary bowler said that India still lacked a batsman with abilities on par with the superstar from Saurashtra. In 103 Test matches for India, Pujara has scored 7195 runs. In 2010 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium against the Baggy Greens, the 35-year-old made his Test debut.</p>
Pujara is praised by Harbhajan Singh as an unsung member of Team India
