WI vs IND | Cheteshwar Pujara has been an unsung hero for Indian team, remarks Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh has backed Cheteshwar Pujara ahead of the Test series between India and West Indies stating that he has been the unsung hero for the national side for several years now. Further, he also stated that his exclusion from the West Indies series was a surprising move from the selectors.
After suffering a defeat in the World Test Championship(WTC) final against Australia, India are set to lock horns against West Indies in a two-match Test series. They made it to the final of the World Test Championship on both occasions but ended as runner-up. Now, India will launch their campaign for the maiden WTC title with the upcoming series against West Indies and have made several changes to the squad.
The team have included a few youngsters and have excluded Mohammed Shami and Cheteshwar Pujara from the team. Pujara had a couple of poor knocks in the fixture against Australia and the audience will see a new No, 3 in the match against West Indies. Sharing his assessment of the Indian Test squad, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has opined that Pujara plays a key role by hanging in the middle for a long time making sure that other batters got their comfort.
"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 news agency PTI.
India’s batting unit failed to fire in the WTC final against Australia with only Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur managing to cross the 50-run mark in an innings. Harbhajan pointed out the performance of the Indian batter saying Pujara was not the only one to disappoint with the bat and so his exclusion for the West Indies series was surprising.
"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 the same average,” he explained.