“The benchmarks should be the same for all the players,” Harbhajan Singh DEMANDS respect for Cheteshwar Pujara after his exclusion from squad for West Indies tour

Pujara in both innings could contribute a mere 14 runs off 25 balls and 27 runs off 47 balls respectively.

“The benchmarks should be the same for all the players,” Harbhajan Singh DEMANDS respect for Cheteshwar Pujara after his exclusion from squad for West Indies tour

Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh (Images via ESPNCricinfo, Twitter)

Cheteshwar Pujara‘s exclusion from the Test squad for the upcoming West Indies series led to fans slamming the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The BCCI released the names of players for the Test as well as the ODI series for the West Indies tour scheduled to start on July 12.

Pujara, who has been an indispensable part of the longest format, was ignored after his inconsistent performances in the recently-concluded World Test Championship (WTC) Final. India were thumped by a huge 209 runs by Australia. Pujara in both innings could contribute a mere 14 runs off 25 balls and 27 runs off 47 balls respectively.

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Pujara was dropped from the team last year when India faced Sri Lanka in February. But after a series of remarkable performances in the County Championships for Sussex, he again made it to the playing XI. It will be interesting to see if Pujara can again make his comeback to his favorite format.

Related: Sunil Gavaskar takes indirect dig at Virat Kohli, asks why only Cheteshwar Pujara was snubbed from Test team

Harbhajan Singh points out how like Cheteshwar Pujara, other players also flopped

Harbhajan Singh points out how like Pujara, other players also flopped
Cheteshwar Pujara (Image via Indiatimes.com)

But the recent snub started a debate, for not just Cheteshwar Pujara but other batters, except for Ajinkya Rahane flopped in the WTC Final. That’s what former India spinner Harbhajan Singh pointed out on his YouTube channel. Though Harbhajan admitted that Pujara hasn’t performed consistently in the past 1-1.5 years, neither did the other players.

“Cheteshwar Pujara isn’t there which makes me worried. He has been a big player for India. Hopefully, he’s also given a break and not dropped. Pujara is the backbone of this team. If you’re dropping him, then the averages of other batters haven’t been good either. The benchmarks should be same for all players, no matter how big a player you are,” Harbhajan said.

“He has played 100 Tests, he deserves respect. I hope there was communication between selectors and Pujara before this decision. He still has it in him to perform in Test cricket,” he added.

Meanwhile, the first Test will start on July 12. After the Tests, three ODIs will be played, followed by five T20Is, the squad of which has not been released by the BCCI yet.

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