Sports Desk, AnyTV, New Delhi
Published by: Rohit Raj
Updated Sun, 20 Feb 2022 03:45 PM IST
Summary
Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from the Test series against Sri Lanka. After being cut from the Indian team, Pujara played a strong innings in the Ranji Trophy. He scored 91 runs in 83 balls while playing for Saurashtra against Mumbai.
Cheteshwar Pujara
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Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from the Test series against Sri Lanka. Pujara has not been able to score a single century in Tests since January 2019. He had to bear the brunt of this and the selectors threw him out of the team. After being cut from the Indian team, Pujara played a strong innings in the Ranji Trophy. He scored 91 runs in 83 balls while playing for Saurashtra against Mumbai.
Pujara, who did not open the account in the first innings, has made a great comeback. He scored a strike rate of 109.64. During this he hit 16 fours and a six. Apart from Pujara, wicketkeeper Snell Patel also missed out on scoring a century. He scored 98 runs. He hit 11 fours in his 155-ball innings. A six also came off his bat. Harvik Desai scored 62 runs in 149 balls.
Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma said on Saturday (February 20) that Rahane and Pujara had been informed about their exclusion from the two Tests against Sri Lanka. He had said, “The selection committee gave a lot of thought to Rahane and Pujara. We told them that we will not consider them against Sri Lanka, but the doors are open for them. We have asked them to play Ranji Trophy.”
The chairman of the selection committee said of Rahane and Pujara, “They have served the country for so long. They can come back. Career is like a graph. Rahane scored a century in Ranji Trophy against Saurashtra yesterday. Who wouldn’t be happy on his return.”
Talking about the Ranji Trophy, the tournament is being organized in two phases. The first phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played after the first and second phase of the IPL. The first phase will end on March 15. The second phase after IPL will run from May 30 to June 26. This season, 64 matches will be played in the Ranji Trophy in 62 days.