Will Pujara be selected in India’s UK Tests Staff?

It looks like it is the end of the road for Cheteshwar Pujara’s hopes of returning to India’s Test team. The veteran last played a Test in 2023 following which he has been out of the favour of the selectors. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring just before the England series, the team is now without any experienced senior barring Bumrah and Jadeja.

End of road for Pujara

As per Cricbuzz, the selectors have no plans of looking back at Pujara. The report claims that there was some chatter around having the veteran in the absence of Ro-Ko. However, the selectors are unwilling to include Pujara in the squad and instead are looking to give opportunities to either Sarfaraz Khan or Devdutt Padikkal.

“There was some chatter that the selectors should look at Cheteswar Pujara (37) for a place in view of the absence of seniors like Rohit and Kohli. But the impression one gets is that the selectors and team management are in no mood to look back,” the report stated.

Pujara has 7195 runs from 103 Tests and averages 43.60. He last featured in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2023 where India lost to Australia.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir will address a press conference at 12.30 PM on Saturday to announce the new Test captain and the squad for the England series. Shubman Gill is tipped to be Rohit Sharma’s successor. Earlier, reports had stated that Gill had already met both Gambhir and Agarkar to discuss the future roadmap for the team.

The five-match Test series against England is scheduled to commence from June 20. Prior to the series, India is also scheduled to play an intra-squad match against India A.