Robin Uthappa wants Cheteshwar Pujara back in Test team for Australia tour

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa wants Cheteshwar Pujara back in the Indian Test team. Uthappa believes that India need a batter who has an airtight defence.

In Short

• India play Australia in a 5-match Test series
• Cheteshwar Pujara was excluded from the India squad
• Uthappa wants Pujara's inclusion for Australia tour

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa wants Cheteshwar Pujara to be included in the tour of Australia. The India Test star has been sidelined from the team since the World Test Championship Final 2023 after which the management decided to bring in new stars.

Shubman Gill was given the role of No.3 replacing Pujara in the Test team. Speaking about the squad ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25, Uthappa said that Indian team needed to have a player with an airtight defence. Uthappa argued that, at the moment, no one in the Indian side is of that mould who has verified history of ability to bat time in Australia.

“We need someone defensive, someone who can play conventional, traditional Test cricket. As of now, KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran are the ones who can play that role. Honestly, I still believe there’s space for someone like Pujara in the Test team,” Uthappa said in a virtual media interaction.

“I don’t see anyone else who can take on that responsibility. Everyone likes to play positively, aggressively, and score runs at a quick pace, including someone like Shubman Gill. He is a natural stroke-player, and if you ask him to play that slow role, he may not enjoy it. You might be taking away his game,” Uthappa further added.

India A side has consistently failed with the bat in the tour of Australia so far. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul have fallen cheaply in the innings that they have batted so far. Si Sudharsan and Dhruv Jurel have shown resistance in the Australian surfaces, but Uthappa believed that India needed someone experienced in the tour.

India announced an extended squad of 18 players for the tour of Australia. The management dropped Axar Patel, and opted to keep Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane out of the side.

India’s Squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R. Ashwin, R. Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.