Just a few weeks after the disappointing end to the WTC final, Indian cricket is in the midst of some very avoidable confusion and uncertainty about a few things:
After Shubman Gill's shin injury ruled him out of the England series, the Indian squad in England asked the selectors to send two replacements for the series - one for Gill and another backup batsman - so that in the event of any first-choice batsman's injury on this long tour, calling for a replacement would be no good due to 14-day quarantine requirements. Both valid and proactive requests.
But as I write this, there has been no official response from the selectors and not even a communication to carry on with the standby players in the squad. Quite needless and avoidable. At least the team management has the right to get the team strength it is looking for. If nothing else, knowing who all are to be considered (and who not) will give them the necessary clarity on proceeding and planning accordingly.
And abhi toh I'm not even getting into why the much experienced and much more in-form Prithvi Shaw is not being preferred over Abhimanyu Easwaran for England. If the team management wants him to be in England instead of SL post-Gill, why not and why wait? You could always keep Easwaran in the standbys but fly Shaw to England well in time and prefer him over Easwaran any day. What's wrong in that?
As for the SL team, we can have replace Shaw with Sheldon Jackson in the team for SL. Sheldon was already unlucky not to have made the cut in any of the teams, despite being a consistently heavy scorer in domestic cricket. Blessing in disguise too.
Anyway, I'm just another fan and for whatever it is worth and howsoever strongly I believe these to be the right decisions, these are after all, just my thoughts.
Onto the next and even bigger point:
It's about a certain Cheteshwar Pujara.
Now, I know human memory can be short and fickle. But to banish or overlook someone's historic performances (in general) and barely a few months ago in particular, is truly next level stuff.
Image Credit: Ashish Magotra, Scroll (https://s01.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/153679-ncwqqblsnv-1611228214.jpg) Imagine this:
Just a few months ago, at the start of the year, he was the toast of the town, having done what very few #3 batsmen can claim to have achieved: playing (AND ARCHITECTING SERIES WINS) as #3 batsman on consecutive tours to Australia.
Beating Australia in Australia on consecutive tours.
Being the architect of both those series wins at the crucial #3 spot on both tours.
How many batsmen do you know who could achieve this?
Yet, in just a few months, he is now battling for a place in the side?!
Sure, he gets stuck and not that it is something he shouldn't work on, but it's not entirely unexpected of him either. Honestly, he just needs to get out of the belief that he needs to only defend the ball initially. And in any case, he does accelerate well after reaching 100 - but of course, that hasn't happened enough in the last few months but so what?
He was not hitting hundreds in Australia in 2020-21 but go ask any Aussie bowler whose sight repulsed them the most, and they'll name Pujara.
As with any other batsman, Pujara is also not perfect. Sure, he needs to keep the scoreboard ticking too and not play out only maidens all the time. We can ask him to avoid stonewalling and deadbatting all the time, alright. Continue with it 90% of the time but at least try 5-10% more because you know you have Puji for that role - to hold one end up, and let others play around him. And that's it.
That's Pujara's only fault - of not scoring quickly enough - but should we just drop him for that?
Why are not considering all the other qualities he brings to the table?
And by the way, if not attacking enough is a yardstick for Pujara, shouldn't the same yardstick (like not defending at all or not defending well enough) be applied to our other batsmen, including the captain?
Is it only Pujara's failure?
If not, why should only he pay the price?
His solidity, his doggedness, his resolute defence and his determination. He hardly gets out to loose shots but only to good balls. Yes, he can show more intent but that does not mean he should be dumped from the team. It's a message that can still be given more subtly without dumping a player of his stature.
The great Mr. Sunil Gavaskar also made the valid point of Kane Williamson also batting so slowly in the same match. Yes, he did accelerate too. But the point is that others around him batted well too and he also opened up later. For India, hardly anyone flowered in our innings. So defence is not the issue. It's just that he is not scoring enough, which can still be sorted out.
Facing a barrage of bouncers, short stuff, abuse/sledging/mental disintegration/call-it-what-you-will, snorting jaffas and what not, but never losing composure, and coming up trumps, time and time again.
Eating up time and balls to tire the bowlers down and bring the opposition on its knees.
Now then, show me how many batsmen can claim to match Pujara for all such traits.
Anyway, of course, these are just my thoughts, for whatever they are worth. But for someone who has stood up for the team time and time again, been a big reason for some of our most memorable wins, and remained an unsung hero without too much fanfare.
If nothing else, you deserve a lot of fans batting for you and defending you this time, Puji. We know that more than anyone else, you yourself are hurting from the lack of runs and want to turn the corner and improve the scoring rate too - anything that helps the team. Keep the faith, good luck, may sanity prevail and may you be back in favor and among runs soon!
