"No reason for me to believe why he can’t come back" - Cheteshwar Pujara's father
Team India's senior batter Cheteshwar Pujara failed to make the cut for the side's forthcoming two-match Test series against West Indies, scheduled to begin in Roseau on July 12.
Despite the snub, the Test specialist's father Arvind Pujara believes that the veteran batter could still make a comeback into India's red-ball team. He mentioned that Pujara will toil hard in domestic cricket and county cricket as he looks to regain his place in the national side.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Arvind said:
"He [Cheteshwar Pujara] is mentally very strong. I can’t comment about selection. But from what I have seen, he is batting at his best. In fact he was working hard in the nets the same day post the WI team announcement.
"He has started preparing for the Duleep Trophy and will continue playing on the county circuit. As a father and coach, there is no reason for me to believe why he can’t come back."
Pujara failed to make a significant impact in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final between India and Australia earlier this month. The 35-year-old finished with scores of 14 and 27. India suffered a 209-run loss in the summit clash.
Cheteshwar Pujara will next be seen in action in Duleep Trophy
Cheteshwar Pujara will represent West Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy. The batter has commenced his preparations for the domestic tournament.
Soon after the announcement of India's squad for the West Indies series, Pujara took to his Twitter account to share a video of his recent practice session. He posted:
🏏 ❤️ https://t.co/TubsOu3Fah
West Zone will take on the winner of the match between East Zone and Central in the first semi-final at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur from July 5.
India's squad for West Indies series
Test: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
ODI: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.