Sunil Gavaskar Lashes Out At Selectors For Making Senior Batter 'Scapegoat' Following WTC Failure

Cheteshwar Pujara's prolonged lean patch resulted in Shiv Sundar Das-led committee dropping him from Tests for West Indies tour in July.

After being dropped, Cheteshwar Pujara will play for West Zone in Duleep Trophy 2023.

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India vs West Indies: Ex-India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, one of the most respected voices in international cricket, lashed out at selectors for making veteran India batter 'scapegoat' after most Indian batters failed to perform in World Test Championship (WTC 2023) Final against Australia. Pujara struggled for runs in his recent outing against Australia as he was completely outplayed by the opposition bowlers. The red-ball star was able to score a combined 41 runs in both innings of WTC Final. Pujara's prolonged lean patch resulted in Shiv Sundar Das-led committee dropping him from Tests for West Indies tour in July.

"Why has he been dropped? Why has he been made the scapegoat for our batting failures. He has been a loyal servant of India cricket. A loyal and quiet servant. A loyal and quiet achiever. But because he does not have millions of followers on platforms who will make a noise in case he gets dropped, you drop him. That is something beyond understanding. What is the criteria of dropping him and keeping the others who failed? I do not know because nowadays, there is no media interaction with the selection committee chairman," Gavaskar said in an interaction with Sports Today.

"He has been playing country cricket. So, he has played a lot of red-call cricket and he knows what it is about. Today, people can play till they are 39-40 years old and as long as you are producing runs, I do not think age should be a factor. Apart from (Ajinkya) Rahane, the batting completely failed. Why Pujara has been made the fall guy is something the selectors will have to explain," he added.

After being dropped, Cheteshwar Pujara will play for West Zone in Duleep Trophy 2023, Times Of India reported.