New Delhi: The Rahul Dravid-coached team has made a number of notable adjustments to their lineup for the next edition of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) after India suffered yet another heartbreaking loss in the championship of an ICC event. Team India has consistently advanced to the championship game since the competition's inception, although both times they have fallen short of the finish line. In the third season of the ICC tournament, the two-time runners-up will be anxious to finally win an ICC crown.

With the upcoming Test series against the hosts West Indies, India will begin its quest for a first WTC championship. India gave their first-ever calls to three young players for the two-match Test series against the West Indies after they lost to Australia in the previous WTC final.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Mukesh Kumar, three promising young players who have demonstrated consistency in domestic cricket as well as for India A, have been added to the Indian team's Test squad for the first time.

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The Asian giants chose to invest in the next generation by resting senior pacer Mohammed Shami and omitting experienced batsman Cheteshwar Pujara from the Test team. Pujara, who just turned 35, has held the No. 3 batter position for India for a while. The veteran batter, who is known for his tremendous defense, struggled against Australia in the WTC final. After Pujara was not chosen, Team India would likely introduce a new No. 3 hitter in the Caribbean.

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh praised Pujara as one of the cornerstones of Team India's strength in his honest appraisal prior to the start of the Test series between India and the West Indies. The two-time World Cup champion noted that Pujara has long been an underappreciated hero. "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.

Harbhajan also noted that Pujara was not the only hitter who fell short of expectations in the WTC final in an effort to show respect for the veteran batter. In the summit match against Australia, no Indian batter—aside from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur—was able to score more than 50 runs. Harbhajan drew attention to the parallels in averages between him and Pujara during the previous WTC cycle as a subtle dig at the famous Virat Kohli, who has also been dreadfully out of form in red-ball cricket.

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"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 said.

Although Kohli and Pujara led India in runs scored during the previous WTC cycle, their respective averages of 32.13 and 32 raised serious questions.

The bowling legend defended Pujara's strike rate and asserted that India still needs a batsman with talent comparable to the superstar from Saurashtra. For India, Pujara has scored 7195 runs in 103 Test matches. The 35-year-old made his Test debut in 2010 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium against the Baggy Greens.

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