‘He has been Team India’s unsung hero’: Harbhajan praises senior batter ahead of West Indies Tests

India are set to kick off their campaign in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle with the two-match Test series versus West Indies. The home side will host Rohit Sharma & Co. in the first Test, at Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica, on July 12 as India look set to start a new era in red-ball format with the additions of many youngsters in the line-up. When the Test squad for the WI series was announced, Cheteshwar Pujara’s name was missing as many believe he has been made the scapegoat for India’s WTC final loss versus Australia, at The Oval, London, last month.

Pujara averaged 32 in the 2021-23 WTC cycle and has only scored one ton since early 2019. The right-hander’s numbers have been dismal, to say the least, but the likes of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have also not performed as per expectations for quite some time. Thus, former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh opined on Pujara’s omission and feels he has been India’s ‘unsung hero’ for a long time and deserves more respect.

Pujara has been doing the dirty work of hanging in there’

“I have a lot of respect for Chesteshwar Pujara for what he has achieved. He has been an unsung hero of the Indian team for many years now. He has been one of those pillars of strength for India, doing the dirty work of hanging in there, making sure other batters got their comfort,” Harbhajan told news agency PTI.

Bhajji asserted, “I believe he needs to be given a bit more respect than what he has been given and the way he was chucked out of the team was a surprise for me. Because he isn’t the only one not scoring runs. There are others as well who play in that same team who are scoring runs at same average.”

Harbhajan also pointed out that a lot of talk has been around Pujara’s strike-rate in Tests, but he feels he has also held up one end firmly with his defensive approach. “In case of Pujara, we keep hearing about his strike-rate of scoring runs in Tests but because of that strike-rate, the wickets remain intact and that’s a huge contribution. So you have to see which guy is contributing what. You need to see how much the team needs him. In my opinion, the team still needs him. When you go abroad (SENA countries), you need one such batter as you can’t have everyone playing strokes all the time. You need someone who plays normal Test cricket, just like Chesteshwar Pujara,” he added.

Pujara recently scored a ton in the 2023 Duleep Trophy semi-final for West Zone. He has been replaced by the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad for the WI series, however, if he scores a bulk of runs in the domestic circuit, he might still make a comeback in the Indian team.

In 103 Tests, Pujara has 7195 runs along with 19 tons and 35 half-centuries at an average of 43.60, including a best of 206.