Cheteshwar Pujara has been dominating headlines after the veteran batter was dropped from the Indian cricket team squad for the upcoming Test series against West Indies. Following a disappointing show at the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, he lost his spot in the team with youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad receiving maiden call-ups. However, it looks like Pujara have come with a perfect response to the snub as he slammed a century for West Zone in the ongoing Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone. The innings had 13 boundaries.
Thanks to this brilliant innings, Pujara became the fifth Indian batter to score 60 first-class centuries and he is now tied with the legendary Vijay Hazare. Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar jointly top the list with 81 tons while current Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid is second with 68.
Pujara resumed on his overnight score of 50 and looked in complete control against the opposition bowlers. He did not take many chances but his batting technique was simply exquisite.
Legendary Indian cricket team opener Sunil Gavaskar was not happy with the decision to drop Cheteshwar Pujara for the upcoming Test series against West indies.
"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.