New Delhi: For the two-Test series against the West Indies in July, Cheteshwar Pujara was left out of India's lineup. Young openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been called up for the series, and one of them is anticipated to replace Pujara at No. 3 in the batting order.

India was defeated by Australia in the World Cup final by 209 runs. Over the course of the two innings of the Test match, Pujara scored a total of 41 runs. In the first inning, he scored 14, and in the second, he scored 27. India scored just 296 and 234 runs in the two innings of the Test match as most of their batsmen similarly struggled to establish themselves in the swinging conditions at The Oval.

Recently, Sunil Gavaskar questioned why Cheteshwar Pujara was made the ‘scapegoat’ for the team's batting struggles in response to his exclusion from the Indian test squad for the West Indies.

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Cheteshwar Pujara's exclusion from the Indian test team for the West Indies has drawn criticism from former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. In the World Test Championship Final match between India and Australia, Cheteshwar Pujara was a member of the starting 11.

"Clearly only one man has been singled out while the others also failed. To me, the batting failed (in WTC final). Apart from Ajinkya Rahane, there was nobody who got any runs. So why Pujara has been made the fall guy is something the selectors need to explain," Gavaskar added 

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The former opener for India questioned Pujara's dismissal as well as the reason for keeping other players on the team. Gavaskar stated that the players of today are highly healthy and can continue to play till they are 39 or 40 years old as long as they are making runs or claiming wickets.

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