‘The difference in Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara…’ – BCCI source reasons why latter is dropped

India’s ICC title loss in the WTC Final 2023 meant the exclusion of a couple of veteran cricketers from the Test team. Star batter Cheteshwar Pujara and experienced seamer Umesh Yadav were dropped from the Indian squad that will take on West Indies in Men in Blue’s first assignment in the WTC 2023-25 cycle. Notably, it drew criticism from a few Indian experts regarding India’s selection calls and also axing the likes of Pujara.

Now a BCCI source has explained the reasons of Cheteshwar Pujara has been kept out of the team and other batters like Virat Kohli are kept in the squad for the Caribbean. The source stated that Pujara’s failure in the recent Border Gavaskar series all but confirmed Pujara’s exit. “Once he failed in Australia series at home, there was very little chance for him but selectors didn’t want to change things ahead of the WTC final,” a BCCI source told PTI.

Despite his poor outing in BGT, Pujara was kept in the squad for the WTC Final. The source added, “Twin failures at Oval sealed his fate. SS Das was in London for the WTC final. He must have had a word with head coach Rahul Dravid and intimated his panel’s thought-process post final,”

Why Virat Kohli is in the squad and Pujara out?

The source stressed the reason why Pujara is left out of the squad and Kohli survived the exclusion list. “It is a two-year cycle and you can’t just make wholesale changes. Pujara hasn’t been scoring for three years. The difference between a Virat Kohli and a Pujara has been the rhythm. Yes, Kohli also has had a dry spell but he never looked out of form,” it said.

“Pujara never gave you confidence after the Australia tour that he is in rhythm. Intent was also an issue. The two knocks against Bangladesh were hardly of any consequence,” the source added.

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